Fire Angie, Hire Panyaza
What is the state of leadership in education? Can those in charge of our education system go through the eye of the needle? Quite frankly, I don't know why the Minister of Basic Education is still in office, after two children died in a toilet due to the horrific state of infrastructure in our schools. The president made unrealistic promises that by this week there would be no schools that do not have proper toilets. We all knew, as this unrealistic promise was made, that it will not materialise.
I assume that the president made this promise under the advice of this minister — his highest advisor on education. This reminds me of a similar promise that former president Mbeki made in his Sona back in 2006 — declaring that by June of that year, there would be no schools under trees. At the presidential advisory committee on education back in 2008 — a full two years after this fake promise was made — the deputy minister of higher education Enver Surty claimed that the reason for this was that schools under trees are a "moving target" due to severe weather conditions in rural areas.
I assume he did not know this before making the president promise to eradicate these terrible hazards in school infrastructure. He is still the deputy to Motshekga, and I assume that this week they will both come up with another fantasy-driven explanation as to why a child somewhere may still drown in a pit latrine 24 years into democracy.
This is unacceptable in the extreme. While no one expects something like school infrastructure to be fixed overnight, it's truly cruel for the government to make promises it knows it cannot keep. What baffled me even further was the fact that only after Ramaphosa made this head-in-the-clouds promise did the department start conducting an audit of how many such pit latrines exist — suggesting they had been sleeping on the job.
In other words, their advice to the president to make the promise after a second death was recorded, was made without the necessary realistic plan to achieve this. This is a sample of promises made in service-delivery departments across all spheres of government. No wonder we are becoming the protest capital of the world — communities are becoming fed up with the conduct akin to that of Motshekga and her ilk, making promises lightly.
As we prepare to mark 42 years of struggle in education since the youth uoprising of 1976, we have to take a hard look at the leadership in education and make radical changes. It would be a mistake to use this issue as the only yardstick to measure what has happened in education since the dawn of democracy, but it remains a crucial issue to highlight.
Motshega's protégé, Panyaza Lesufi, is a shining star among leaders in education, and maybe it is time he is considered for higher office in this regard.
A proper assessment must urgently take place on issues such as curriculum planning in schools. I have to commend the minister for ensuring that history becomes a compulsory subject in schools — one wonders why such a crucial decision for nation-building took 24 years to make. But as they say, better late than never.
There are also issues that tend to make it into the headlines such as the deficit of libraries and laboratories in schools: the lowering of pass marks in certain subjects, fast-tracking leaners who have failed grades in order to create space in lower classes, poor bachelor passes in matric, and an overall failure rate that does not account for almost 50 percent of people who started school 12 years before.
The worrying issue of literacy and numeracy placing us at the bottom of the scale worldwide needs to be examined without being sensational about it. The fact that each time any of these issues are in the public discourse, there is outrage, must also speak of the communications strategy of the department and the minister's failure to take the public with her — creating an impression that the ministry has no clue how it should deal with the state of basic education, when in fact that may well be a plausible explanation for these apparently strange policy decisions.
The separation of responsibilities between provinces and national has also come up a lot. The failure of the Limpopo education department to deliver textbooks a few years ago on time, and the uneven introduction of technologically advanced education in various provinces, is also a matter for introspection. The improvement of the matric pass rate over the years and how this can be enhanced needs solid leadership that can aid provinces to learn from each other.
Motshega's protégé, Panyaza Lesufi, is a shining star amongst leaders in education, and maybe it is time he is considered for higher office in this regard. This will be a fitting tribute to the youth of 76, rather than mere rallies and slogans. There is no logic in carrying on with someone like Motshekga, who clearly has overstayed her welcome in that portfolio. With what is happening in our schools and the challenges of language, discipline, teacher development and curriculum transformation, this area of national life also deserves a new dawn.
The promises of better infrastructure must continue to be at the top of the agenda — this includes urgent attention being paid to so-called farm schools across rural provinces, to avoid the miseducation of our children. One of the biggest challenges that the new leader of this area of our national life will have to tackle head-on is the invincibility of unions, particularly the incorrigible Sadtu, to which I will dedicate a column soon, too.
As we celebrate the youth of 1976, we need to take the problems in education a lot more seriously than making false promises for political expediency.
Its wanton destruction of education can no longer be ignored. It is trite that Sadtu is able to get away with this because it is part of the moribund tripartite alliance. This is one area in which Motshekga tried her best to put her foot down, but we wait with bated breath to see her implement recommendations of various inquiries pointing an accusatory finger at Sadtu and its anti-education ways.
As we celebrate the youth of 1976, we need to take the problems in education a lot more seriously than making false promises for political expediency. Our thoughts must go to the families of the children who lost their lives under the care of our education authorities.
The belated promises of these authorities are cold comfort to their families, who still weep about how callously their lives were cut short when they went to school in search of a bright future — a mandate of our education system.