Poverty threatens education, but education can also help curb poverty
Teachers should be trained with focus on the delivery of quality education and break the cycle
The shocking levels of poverty in SA represent a ticking time bomb which screams for urgent intervention. According to a recent report by Sunday |Times, at least 199 children under the age of five years died of malnutrition in the first two months of the year.
The full brunt of the tragedy is borne by KZN with 50 deaths, followed by the Eastern Cape with 32 deaths. Gauteng and Mpumalanga account for 29 deaths each with the rest of provinces accounting for 88 deaths.
In Matikwe, north of Durban, it was reported that sand had become a meal for starving children. Experts predict that the situation is likely to get worse as the combined effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the July riots and the floods take their toll, especially on KZN.
The expected rise in interest rates to curb inflation and the ramifications of the war in Ukraine will exacerbate the looming calamity. SA has 19.6m children who make up about 35% of the population of 56.5m people.
While access to education has been greatly improved since 1994, poor quality education has in turn undermined efforts to eradicate poverty. Reports say that after five years of attendance, only 50% of pupils can do basic arithmetic.
There are also low levels of teacher accountability owing mainly to the influence of anarchic the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), which has captured education in six provinces. Reports show about 10% of teachers are absent from school on any given day and 79% of grade 6 maths teachers do not have the content knowledge to be teaching at their levels. In rural areas, 81% of children live in abject poverty where critical resources such as water, electricity, books and technology were missing from many schools.
According to department of education statistics, out of 23,471 public schools, 18,019 have no library while 16,897 have no internet. Some children have to walk for more than 30 minutes to school. Low attainment becomes the leading cause of school dropout. Pupils are pressured to work to provide for their households or to augment the family income.
Without a basic education, pupils struggle to get employment and cannot escape poverty as a result. Children’s development is undermined by chronic malnutrition and food insecurity which result in stunting.
Food insecurity is partially addressed by the national schools nutrition project (NSNP) which provides daily meals to the poorest schools, reaching 75% of children at primary and secondary schools. These meals can encourage school enrolment, increase attendance levels, alleviate short-term hunger and improve concentration and academic performance.
Poverty threatens education, but education can also help end poverty. The cycle of poverty can be broken.
It is for this reason education is referred to as the greatest equaliser because it opens doors to jobs and other resources and skills that families need to not only survive, but thrive.
The state should train and employ more teachers with the focus on quality education. This will result in small class sizes and improved teacher morale, a critical element in the improvement of outcomes.
Increasing the quality of education will result in a growing economy, lower income inequalities and decrease the risk of disease and violence.
As Aristotle noted, “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” Mervyn Abrahams, programme coordinator at the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group, which compiles a monthly household affordability index report, remarks: “It is a major indictment on our social and economic system that children are either stunted or dying.” Indeed it is and time is not our side to improve the quality of education to turn the tide on the scourge of poverty.