Hands off our schools, government
WE, THE children of South Africa, bemoan the sad fact that while we eagerly wait for our long-promised textbooks to be delivered on time, we have been kidnapped. We find hands clamped over our mouths, forcing us to be quiet. We are being side-tracked from our promising futures by people who pretend to care about us. Help!
The Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill seeks to make us slaves of the state; stolen from our parents and communities. Public schools will soon be captured and turned into state schools. Why does the proposed legislation belittle our parents, communities and community leaders by taking away their voices? Is this democracy?
The onslaught comes from those who should be the strongest custodians of our future. The centralists want control of all, even our school governing bodies (SGBs) and the appointment of new teachers.
Our resources, which could have secured a bright future, have been looted and squandered.
We witness a chaotic Parliament where MPs are calling one another names; they make cat calls while others speak. Is this the type of classroom environment in which they would like us to learn in when they are in control?
They are attempting to organise us into a one-shoe-fits-all education system. We are going back to apartheid, where the government of the time forced Afrikaans on us. Are they so determined to force their own ideology on us? Why all this haste?
Rural communities have again been marginalised. Community leaders disowned of their rights. The amendments are available only in Afrikaans and English. Shouldn’t they be published in all official languages? Our democracy is dying.
Who is the author of this new policy? A centralist in disguise who has ulterior motives? Why are they rushing the bill past us? Our futures and studies hang in the balance. Will our future study of history consist of lessons on corruption since that is all that seems to be happening in the corridors of power?
We oppose the amendments that strip the SGBs of their power. We propose that the government gets its act together and educates the nation. The Department of Basic Education has not demonstrated its capacity to provide relevant and meaningful education.
Through it all we, South Africa’s children and youth, have become another lost generation.
Rescue us!
Mhlongo is Vice-Chairperson of the Concerned Young People of South Africa (CYPSA)