SA's young people, especially those in school, are being neglected. Picture: iStock
The year 1994 was described as the birth of a nation. In 2014, we were building a “fledgling economy”. In the 2024 elections, analysts described the “maturing” of a democracy.
SA has always been compared to the growth of a child, and yet the country has neglected its young ones at nearly every turn.
Most pupils returned to school on Tuesday, just weeks after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC announced its grand plans for a government of national unity (GNU).
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And yet the “GNU Dawn” has not risen on those who still enter crowded classrooms or congregate under trees, hungry and cold.
Children, some who were not even born when Ramaphosa became president in 2018, packed taxis to the brim. Greedy and irresponsible drivers play Russian Roulette with other people’s pride and joy. For 12, the ride would be their last.
In the classroom, those who were able to forget the troubles of home or environment faced bullying by peers, or worse by teachers tasked with guiding them.
This is the current state of a public education system that haunts and scars the “future” of our country.
Politicians should be commended for how quickly they rushed to solve the “crisis of governance” after May’s election. But the clamour for cushy jobs at the top ignored the crisis in the classroom.
School applications for 2025 opened in Gauteng on Thursday. For every three pupils that start school in Grade 1, one will drop out.
Those who go on to study further, face the next crisis: Nearly one in 10 beneficiaries of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) won’t be funded in the next academic year.
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And at the end of that rainbow of gloom is the realisation that nearly two in three young people in South Africa do not have a job.
Those left in the shadows by a failed state watch as politicians fight for the limelight.
What is needed is not a bloated GNU to accommodate every party and faction, but a government committed to unify in the interest of our nation’s children.
Like the ANC, the basic education department cannot be trusted to do the job alone. Citizens know and demand that all sectors and departments work together.
Health must provide quality healthcare to all children. Social development must ensure no household goes hungry and struggling child-led homes are supported. Energy and electricity, water and sanitation must keep the lights on and taps flowing. Labour and employment should put those leaving school to work.
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Finance must make sure budgets for school infrastructure are sufficient. Policing should safeguard the school yard and the justice department prosecute those who corrupt the system.
Agriculture and trade and industry must never put foreign exports before the hungry child within our borders. Home affairs must make sure we know who these children are.
These are promises made before, but never taken seriously.
Cabinet ministers are holding a Lekgotla this weekend where education was far down the list of priorities. They may find that if it was top; other future problems will not exist.
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