Poor kids just as deserving of solid education

THERE is a tendency to use the matric pass rate as the measure of the failure or success of our basic education system.

Everywhere you go around this time of year you find people talking about “best” and “worst” performing schools according to the matric results, while across the country pupils with several distinctions are celebrated – which is good in terms of encouraging hard work at school.

But for one to boldly proclaim success without looking at the entire value chain starting from children whose parents cannot afford the best pre-schools is an injustice and a disservice.

We often hear people in high authority, some members of the Cabinet, legislatures, schools and parents emphasising that pupils must start working hard right from the beginning of the year and not leave this to later.

We agree. However, preparation for top performers in the national matric examination begin far earlier than just this one year.

The fact is, more often than not it is the children with a solid education foundation from pre-school all the way up to the grade 12 examinations who top the list of best performers countrywide.

So, we need to pause and think about the schools that are still poorly resourced in townships and poor far-flung rural communities in particular.

If one considers education to be the most valuable gift anyone can be given, then surely we must re-evaluate the entire system with particular emphasis on those children who are not afforded an equal opportunity to attend pre-schools (as per the early childhood development plan) and attend poorly resourced schools all the way from primary through to junior and high school level.

In short, a coherent approach is needed to clear all the blockages and level the playing field in the education system.

Some of us grew up in rural areas where we had to cross at least two big rivers before finally landing up at the school grounds. One had to take a big jump holding one’s breath, both on the way to school and then going back home.

We also had to go through bushes just to make it to morning class, which was especially frightening for the girls. I am sure this is ongoing to this day. The stories of some schools reportedly struggling to get maths and science teachers, books sometimes being delivered three to four months after classes have started, numerous cases of teacher posts being vacant for more than a year, new curriculum reforms that place challenges on both pupils and teachers, unreliable school transport services – all these infrastructural shortcomings combined need a collaborated approach to solve.

There are also social problems that urgently need attention – the rising early teenage pregnancy rate that diminishes the dreams of girls, drugs increasingly finding their way into our schools premises, disturbing allegations of children tormenting others at a gunpoint, and other different forms of criminal activity that allegedly take place in schools to the extent that some pupils decide to leave betterresourced schools to go to far-away schools and may finally decide to stop going to school altogether .

If we can’t protect willing learners against social ills and hooliganism at their schools, the billions that are currently invested in education, especially in poorest of the poor communities, will go down the drain.

It would be highly appreciated if our government would provide us with a detailed education masterplan that seeks to radically address the gross disparities between private and public schools.

The truth is, the same attention given to a child at a private school is as needed by a child whose parents simply cannot afford the expensive supports offered at better off schools – such as psychological development monitoring, speech assessments and proper sporting facilities, all of which are a fraction of the many privileges enjoyed by children at private schools.

The children of the poorest of the poor are just as deserving.

If the above issues cannot find expression in our national government education masterplan we will forever be talking about the problem of rising inequality and poverty in our country, but will have failed to take the bold steps necessary to address some of the basic root causes.

We often hear our political leaders emphasising the issue of land scarcity and ownership as a root cause of social inequality and poverty. Whilst it is indeed a major contributor, we don’t believe land redistribution supersedes the importance of liberating minds through sound education and training.

Even if 80% of land had to be given back to the original owners tomorrow, without knowledge and understanding of how to make profitable use of it, the entire nation would eventually experience hunger.

Whilst Zimbabweans might have become tired of President Robert Mugabe’s regime that went on for decades and certainly, with negative features, we think they should at least appreciate their former president for his insistence on self-reliance and investing in education.

They might not have had free houses built for them by their government but many have been left with a lifetime inheritance of education and training in various trades, enabling them to sustain themselves in many crucial sectors such as mining, engineering, agriculture etc.

We can only begin to imagine a brighter future for our nation if our government prioritises investment in the development of human capital through education and training to avoid the grants dependency syndrome.

In fact, the problem starts at primary level. The NDP Vision 2030 must have a funded plan for eradicating the substandard education that children of low income parents are forced to settle for.

As long the huge gap of resources between quintile 1 to 5 schools is retained, poverty and inequality will remain entrenched for decades to come.

The difference between the rich and the poor is allowed to persist and dominate simply by virtue of the fact that universities give preference to children with higher marks and the majority of these come from quintile five schools – or 5-star standard schools that only the rich can afford.

The NDP Vision 2030 and national education masterplan need to immediately address the fact that applicants to universities from poor rural areas are turned down simply because universities have to upscale the entry requirements due to their carrying capacity.

When this happens matriculants from quintile 1 to 3 have no option but to go FET colleges or go nowhere.

At the end of last year a sizeable number of young people felt so hopeless about the situation and so uncertain of whether President Jacob Zuma would announce #FeeFreeEducation that they did not apply to study anywhere.

It is clear the current number of universities cannot cope with the demand. Most were built in the apartheid era to serve a select group. If Vision 2030 does not provide a clear plan of action to address this problem, the future of our youth will be doomed to eternity.

We fully support the right to free education as another powerful weapon for people’s liberation.

We also understand the predicament around the issues of budget limitations etc, but have confidence in the new ANC led led by Cyril Ramaphosa to draw all forces together to ensure #FeeFreeEducation is implemented.

Equally, we think a compromise on certain grants can be made, such as the provision of free housing units to young people who are supposed to be equipped with scarce skills and monitored until they are employable and can be proud of building or buying their own properties for themselves.

We can leave the free housing grant provision for old age and extremely destitute families. In doing so, our community ethos will not have to be disrupted by situations where a physically weak granny over 75 years old must stand in a long queue for free housing alongside her granddaughter who, at 19, is also carrying a baby.

This picture is foreign to our nation and not African by origin.

Chapter 9 of the National Development Plan sets a target of 30 000 artisans to be trained from 2014 to 2030 in order to accommodate the youth battling with formal education. Savings made from some grants can be used to achieve this target.

Prince Langalibalele Mthunzi Ngonyama is the spokesman for Abathembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo