With 70% of public schools not yet having work books delivered, begs the question "4weeks into the 1st term, where can they possibly be?"
The recent debacle in Limpopo unearthed huge corruption in the Limpopo Education Department , something to the tune of 2 billion rands and whilst printing companies cry foul over the awarding of tenders by Dept of Basic Education, learners are no closer to finally getting their workbooks.
We have since been informed that the books will be delivered by the 13 February 2012. Now lets be realistic, if 70% of schools do not as yet have them, how will this happen within the next week? David O' Sullivan from Radio 702 has been on top of this story as have other journos from other media institutions. As we closely follow this crisis, more of us should speak out against the bureaucrats so as to create more of an uproar. Social media networks have hosted comments from South Africans who feel that Govt is clearly not doing enough.
In a country where literacy levels range from 35% for Grade 3 learners to a dismal 28% for Grade 6, more impetus is needed to drive this ailing vehicle forward. These stats are not a thumbsuck. more than 6,5 million learners were tested in 2011 as part of Govt's new evaluation programme called the Annual National Assessments.
Is it not amazing that English has only been introduced to Foundation Phase ( Grade 1 to Grade3 ) for the first time in 2012? The Matric exams are conducted in English. English is the business language in South Africa and whilst there is relevance to cultural identity in speaking in one's mother tongue, more emphasis is definitely needed in the field of languages, and none more so than in English. In fact, I could quite easily compile a list of local politicians who would definitely benefit from some language skills training.
In a recently released American documentary "Waiting for Superman", literacy levels in Washington, the nations capital, was revealed to be a mere 18%. This from a nation that has basically English speaking citizens with the Latino population speaking Spanish. South Africa has 11 official languages, and whilst it looked good to include most of them as official languages in the early days of our democracy, the past years have proved that looking good simply doesn't cut it. It has clearly disadvantaged our learners in comparison to those who speak English as their first language.
Perhaps what is needed is a commission of enquiry. We could create jobs for retired judges and show the SA public that we mean business. A couple of billions thrown down a long chute that goes nowhere could also ally fears.
Or maybe its time to put our ego's aside and all our cultural differences, and embrace a truly international education model, where SA learners could truly compete on a world stage. Our private, progressive schools churn out amazing results and mature learners every year and this is so because that is exactly what it is - PRIVATE. A task team from Govt would do well to spend some time exploring our home grown successes within our schools that excel. Easy lessons can be learned from within our borders. We have the knowledge to lead the rest of the world in pioneering our own education model given the diversity if our learners and the expensive lessons we have learned in the past 18 years.
Meanwhile, the struggle for better, relevant education continues..............
