Development of children, not pass rates, should drive schools

YOUR report on the Bloekombos Senior Secondary scandal exposes probably the most profound, debilitating element in our dysfunctional national education system – our misunderstanding of the raison d’être of schools.

All the children who failed any of the grades in this school last year were not allowed back into the school. If you get the purpose of the existence of schools wrong, how in heaven’s name are you going to get the school to function right?

The popular view of the purpose of schooling in South Africa is for children to pass exams, more specifically matric exams. This view is the bedrock of judgements we, as stakeholders, make of ministers of education, HODs and education officials, principals, learners and schools.

Sadly, our misconception of the function of schooling drives the aforementioned to make unethical and anti-educational (in the case of Bloekombos Secondary, criminal) decisions.

It prevents us from seeing the child as the centrepiece of schooling. If we don’t understand that the school exists for the wholesome development of the child, then we are also not going to know the natural relationship between child and school: that the school exists for the child and not the inverse, as is widely experienced in South Africa.

When the principal prevented more than 100 children who failed classes from Grade 8 to Grade 12 the previous year from entering Bloekombos High, he misunderstood his role as educator and committed an unethical and criminal act.

The rest of this article should be of particular interest to Minister of Police Bheki Cele. He will understand that his sister state departments in the social cluster are largely responsible for generating the lifeblood of gangs.

He will come to realise that his frustration at the growing proliferation of gangs throughout the country will continue unless he addresses a number of these issues with the departments of Education, Social Development, Correctional Services and municipalities.

Had Bloekombos High succeeded, then more than a 100 children from that community would not now have been on the streets of Kraaifontein, unsupervised by adults.

How many more would have been spewed on to the streets if the principal and staff of this school had abandoned their duty to academically weak children for a number of years? Is it not rational to think that other schools throughout the country are also illegally ejecting children who failed, for their school to boast a high percentage pass rate at the end of the year?

We should recognise that the word “drop out” is a euphemism for “kick out”. Many schools eject children from schools illegally because they are not strong academically, or have demonstrated bad behaviour, or their parents cannot afford the school fees.

Last year it was reported that in Delft alone, there were 4000 children of school-going age on the streets. In a township it is rare that children out of school and on the streets won’t gravitate towards gangs.

The question we should ask is what disciplinary process is under way by the Western Cape Education Department to apply sanctions against the principal for contravening the South African Schools Act and potentially destroying many children’s lives?

Three years ago, the only primary school in my village refused to allow 17 children to return to school. The community took action and the children were returned to school.

Some time later I asked the circuit manager what disciplinary action was brought against the offending principal. He responded: “I gave him a good scolding.”

When the Education Department does not see the entire education system as child-centred, more contradictions and trauma will occur. If principal and teachers don’t recognise their culpability in the failure of a learner, and eject that child from the school, at a macro level the Education Department will close a school which repeatedly registers low pass rates.

Compare the security features aimed to keep officials safe in their offices with the safety features which should keep our children safe in schools. Why are transport contracts cancelled without due regard for the safety of our children? Why are children risking their lives when they go to toilets in many schools?

Is it because education officials see themselves at the centre of our education system, or is it the national education minister?

The fault lines in our education system are many and they run deep. We need a robust national discussion to have a shared understanding of how we can correct the contradictions in our education system for future generations.