Private schools like Curro to be applauded
THE ARTICLE “Out of the frying pan into the fire” (The Star, Opinion and Analysis, August 12) by FikileNtsikelelo Moya refers.
So, Curro Roodeplaat invited some “domestic caregivers and gardeners” to witness pupils being introduced to Zulu culture. How dare they? How disgusting!
Let’s get some perspective. It’s a fact that there are many out there who are angry that the ANC has spent 21 years mismanaging education and lowering the pass mark. That has been the ANC’s total contribution to education.
And, standing out like lights in the darkness, are private school groups such as Curro, Crawford and Advtec, who demonstrate daily that they are doing an excellent job to educate all race groups.
It’s a fact that the highest pass rates in South Africa are recorded by the private and independent schools. You can’t ignore this fact.
Is it because they have more money? Yes, because parents pay a higher school fee.
These private and independent schools also have, in general, the best trained teachers because private schools have more funds available to pay for quality teachers and because, unlike the state, these schools take care to check the qualifications of teachers applying for employment and carefully assess and test the would-be teachers.
The results speak for themselves. However, there will always be people out there who wait and watch, hoping the school principals or teachers at these excellent schools will make a mistake and that this will take people’s attention away from the failure by the ANC.
Curro Roodeplaat will never win in the eyes of Mr Moya because he is attempting to detract attention from the truly brilliant work done by groups like Curro because these “centres of excellence” in private and independent schools are producing the leaders of tomorrow using methods which are tried and tested and delivered with love and dedication by proud educators.
My message to Curro Roodeplaat is to ignore detractors such as Mr Moya and listen instead to the shouts of joy that rise from your pupils and their parents (and, often, their domestics and gardeners) when these pupils achieve higher and higher standards.
Linmeyer, Joburg