By Hendrick Makaneta
Education transformation has been a highly contested terrain of struggle ever since the National Commission on Higher Education was established by Nelson Mandela in 1995.
Parliament has done great work by developing the Higher Education Act of 1997 which has since been amended to give the minister powers to determine policy on higher education in consultation with the Council on Higher Education.
We also witnessed many developments to the curriculum review, particularly for the basic education sector that paved a way towards change. While access to higher education institutions has increased over the years, the success rate does not resemble the input, and this is due to the fact that the basic education sector does not talk to higher education.
The standard of basic education is lower than that of higher education. Many students remain trapped in historic debt and this makes their lives difficult as they end up dropping out.
It’s important to note that the transition from the curriculum of Bantu Education to the current revised Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement was a milestone that was necessary to level the playing field but also to give learners access to the same curriculum.
However, education experts have taken note that, of the number of learners who start Grade 1, only 50% exit the system in Grade 12. The key question that must be answered is: Where are the other 50% that started Grade 1?
There are several key observations that we have made as education activists and one of these is the high dropout rate in the system. The reality is that even though the playing field has been levelled, South Africa’s education system finds itself affected by the inequality that exists in the country.
Public schools are differentiated according to quintiles. Quintiles 1, 2 and 3 are schools that are deemed to be at the receiving end of inequality wherein the main, learners come from impoverished communities, unlike quintiles 4 and 5, which charge fees and cater for learners mostly from well-to-do middle-class families.
At the same time, we have independent schools which also cater for middle-class families and those that come from affluent communities. In the main, our learners from poor communities struggle to receive quality education due to poor infrastructure and school governing bodies that are weak.
Since learners are members of the community, they often find themselves affected by issues of drugs and gangs. Teenage pregnancy seems rife in townships and rural communities.
Covid-19 exposed the gap that exists between schools in suburbs and those in townships where learners missed lessons, especially during lockdown alert level 5.
Even after their return to school, the issue of rotational timetables meant that they could not complete the curriculum as they could not attend classes daily.
In many ways, by the time they got back to the next lesson, most of the learners had already forgotten what was taught in the previous lesson.
The other burning issue is that most of the jobs that exist now will become obsolete in the next few years. This requires a radical shift in the way learners are taught. Although the Department of Basic Education has introduced subjects for the 4th industrial revolution, the reality is that in townships and rural communities, it is still business as usual.
The government needs to move swiftly to address the issue of overcrowding which impedes quality learning and teaching. Lack of parental involvement in schools from disadvantaged communities remains a cause for great concern.
In July 2021, more than 32 schools were vandalised in KwaZulu-Natal alone. Even during school recess in December 2021, many schools across the country were vandalised.
It appears that communities do not have a sense of ownership of our schools, and this affects the learners who end up in an overcrowded classroom. Issues of unresolved pit latrines still prohibit proper learning and teaching.
But the reality is that government alone may not be able to speedily resolve some of the challenges that we face as society, hence the private sector has to come on board.
Educationists agree that a modernised curriculum needs to be developed and implemented to teach learners the necessary skills for the 21st century. It remains to be seen whether the resolutions taken by the Lekgotla will be implemented.
The government should collaborate with the private sector to address historic debt which affects some of the students in higher education.
We need policy certainty that can contribute to resolving the challenges. We must build a single education system. Teachers need to be trained and retrained with proper performance appraisals and management in place.
There must be resource allocation for schools in townships and rural areas to address migration issues. Basic education learners should leave the system with skills that are required by the mainstream economy.
* Hendrick Makaneta is an education activist who is completing an LLB degree with the University of Pretoria.
** The views expressed here may not necessarily be that of IOL.