Equal education a must if rural youth are to advance

AMBITION without education is like a boat on dry land. Many young pupils in Nqutu, KwaZulu-Natal, know this well. To make sure they realise their dreams, every day they walk for hours to receive an education that may help them have a brighter future.

Sizwe wakes up at 4am every day to get ready for school. He baths, gets dressed, helps his siblings get ready, eats and at 6am leaves for school.

When he leaves in winter it is cold and dark. He is accompanied by some friends on the two-hour walk.

This has been his routine for the past four years. He never makes the mistake of being absent from school. Although he’s used to it, he is glad that this will be his last year.

Sizwe had to choose which high school to attend after passing Grade 7: Dumizulu or Mangaliso high schools, both four-hour round-trip walks. This is the reality of many other pupils in this area.

In summer it’s better. It is warm and the sun rises early. Even with the many problems of staying in a village and going to a rural school, you cannot help but fall in love with Nqutu.

The reality for these pupils, though, is that a two-hour walk to school does not give them a chance to perform optimally.

They still may be late and there will be a teacher waiting at the gate to punish them with a stick or forcing them to do frog jumps or pushups.

By the time they go to class these pupils are so exhausted, the teacher standing in front of the class is just a bad, angry mime artist. The day cannot be productive. The chores don’t end after the long walk home either. These pupils do not have the luxury of helpers or five pairs of shirts and pants. Upon getting home they have to wash their uniforms, collect and chop wood, and herd the cattle that have been wandering in fields all day.

Finally, by 8pm they get a chance to rest. There is little time or energy left for studies.

Where I come from pupils are continuously faced with a stark choice: staying at school or quitting. So many obstacles increase the chances of failure.

Extra classes help, but that means staying a bit longer at school, leaving at 4pm or 5pm.

For female pupils this increases the chances of being raped.

Pupils scatter all over to get home. Some do not have anyone to go home with. There are no street lights or security guards, and there is certainly no car to pick you up at the gate from school.

Many girls in Grade 12 end up dropping out because they are falling behind at school and missing the extra classes. In one of the schools in which I organise, the matric class has only 21 pupils. Yet in Grade 8 there are more than 135 pupils. The remainder have all dropped out between Grade 8 and Grade 12. The drop-out rate may be attributed to many things, but one reason is that many pupils are simply tired of walking.

The struggle for equal education is one the whole country must take seriously. It’s the only way we can build a skilled nation. It’s the only way young people can realise their dreams. It’s not fair that in 2014 pupils must walk two hours to get their education when others have the privilege of crossing the road and arriving at school. The pupils at my village may never break the cycle of poverty because they will have never been given the chance to receive a decent education.

The government needs to take the education of pupils in rural areas seriously. This means making sure pupils’ safety is prioritised by the provision of more patrolling on the routes pupils use.

Schools must also be built with the intention of reducing commuting times. And the long-term goal must be to provide reliable transport for pupils to and from school.