Education reform is key to South Africa’s progress

The MEC for education in Gauteng, Matome Chiloane, stood by public schools results in his province for the class of 2024 and further went on to claim that Gauteng parents do not necessarily prefer private schools; they want good-quality public schools.

As a parent of a primary school pupil, I agree with this. Private schools are becoming a far reach as the fees become more and more unaffordable.

But the exclusivity and quality delivered create a desire that is hard to resist.

South Africa already has a reputation for having a poor education system, particularly in mathematics and science, and the low pass mark is often cited as one of the biggest problems.

This elementary pass makes the barrier between success and failure one of the lowest in the world.

So, if a pupil is lucky enough, they can scrape through secondary learning, attain a paper that despite the actual grades on the paper, leaves them just outside the employment and university entrance pool.

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Is this not pushing children to the culture of just getting it done without teaching them to get it done above average?

What, then, becomes of these children – joblessness and an inability to attain tertiary education?

I stand resolute that my business economics teacher in high school was damaging. This was something I reiterated to my parents, who fought for my education, and refused that she teach me.

So I self-studied. I was the school’s top achiever who was self-taught.

Remember, education is a two-way street – method of teaching and the method of absorbing.

We cannot expect pupils to absorb everything if only taught in a way that is not adaptive. This is the best way to test the teaching fraternity on its outcomes, as well as the learning capacity of pupils.

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Alas, my curiosity lingers because the high court ruling did not go in my favour.

The deterioration in performance is of great concern and we cannot call out the department of basic education if we are not willing to test the system in its entirety.

We take for granted the patience and passion required to execute teaching functions.

Remember the hard lockdown of 2020, when parents were forced to home-school their kids. It was in that moment that most parents wished that teacher so-and-so was a phone call away.

To teach is a calling but the recipients of the education must be willing to hear, be it public or in private schooling.

So, to compare is of no consequence, the most important thing should be equally pleasing outcomes of education.

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