Current Affairs
Education
Reforming Basic Education in South Africa.
At present the South African public school system is delivering functionally literate Black (African) matriculants at a rate of 1 in 29 of those who enter our educational system. [Functional literacy means having the reading and writing skills necessary for everyday living and the workplace, i.e. equivalent to 8 years of successful formal schooling in the mother tongue or preferred language of learning.]This is dire; as Thomas Jefferson put it: "A nation that hopes to be ignorant and free... hopes for something that never was and never will be."
Mamphela Ramphele’s Five Point Plan for Education.
There is a startling contrast between the empty triumphalism of our national Minster of Education and her minions on the subject of the matric results recently announced and the harsh realities of the education system. It is a system which is doing badly on a continent not known for its educational excellence. While South Africa leads Africa in many fields, it lags in education; this can not, in the national interest, be allowed to continue.Schools notice of motion - DRAFT
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Public School Principals and the principles of accountability
It is often said that a good principal make a good school. In these times of dysfunction in the schooling system in South Africa, it is perhaps more apposite to ask, "What makes a good principal?" and replicate the answer as often as is possible so that more good schools can be made by the good principals that are created through a proper examination of the question and the application of its answer.First Steps in Basic Education
Now that the hullabaloo and excitement of the elections are over, it is time to turn attention to solving the problems of the country through responsible action rather than loud rhetoric. If regard is had to the priority lists of issues identified by all of the major political parties during the election campaign, then it is apparent that a core issue to be addressed in the interests of securing a long term future of peace, prosperity and progress is the proper provision of basic education.The Constitution, Education and Racism
The Constitution of South Africa is founded on the values of non-racialism and non-sexism. Yet, fifteen years after the introduction of multi-party democracy, the "race debate", which focuses on the nation’s habitual racism, continues unabated and unresolved.
The right to basic education and the Green Paper
One of the priorities of the new administration is education. This is as it should be. Without a functioning basic education system in place the sustainability of the democratic project in the country, and indeed peace, progress and prosperity are all endangered. The modern economy needs well educated young blood and the education system must be geared to provide appropriately qualified personnel.
The decision to split the old Ministry of Education at national level into two, one for basic education and the other for tertiary education is an indication of how seriously the plight of the education system is being taken by those in authority at the highest policy making level.
Minister for Performance Management Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, has introduced a Policy Document or Green Paper titled "Improving Government Performance: Our Approach." This is a means of putting flesh on the bones of the various priorities of government, including education.
Unfortunately the performance management system as outlined in the Green Paper seems doomed to continue to contribute to the toxic mix in education.
Truly Professional Teachers are Needed Now
Basic education, inescapably occurs in the classroom, not in the 27,000 principals' offices, not in the management offices of departments of education and not in our legislatures, be they national or provincial. This self-evident fact is not accorded the prominence it deserves as hands are wrung and heads are scratched whenever justifiable concern is expressed about the parlous state of our basic education system.
Hungry, frightened and abandoned children from dysfunctional and impoverished communities do not make great scholars, but in the few properly organised and well led schools that, against all the odds, do exist in poorer areas, they are able to match the most well endowed schools when it comes to achieving 100% matric pass rates.
