We all need an education about the have-nots

There are stark differences in the private and public schooling systems.

One, with its manicured lawns, groundsmen, teachers’ assistants, air conditioned offices and uniformed and fully qualified security personnel, is a far cry from the other.

In the public system, there is a sigh of relief when a retired parent/volunteer multi-tasks as a security guard, gatekeeper, cleaner or groundsman.

It is where teachers bring their own heaters in the winter months to keep the cold at bay.

It is in this place where, in a classroom of 50-plus students, the teacher is his or her own assistant.

It is in this classroom where teachers must adhere to the guidelines as set out by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), while chasing targets of a higher pass rate than the year before.

It is where the teacher may be the only available resource of learning, closely followed by reference material, remembering that the understanding of the textbook depends largely on the foundation laid by a possibly overworked, exhausted and highly demotivated teacher.

In this classroom one finds students of backgrounds so familiar and yet so different.

In this space, the teacher must successfully navigate through each personality, each educational and economic circumstance, in isolation.

If this is not done meticulously, we run the risk of another child lost in the education system.

Remember that in these classrooms, there may be pupils whose parents cannot read or write. The teacher remains the sole pillar of the educational dreams on the faces that look to her as the captain of personal development.

Somewhere over the valley, two or three taxis later, lies a school, its parking lot littered with the luxury German cars of affluent parents or zippy little cars of pupils.

Welcome to the lavish life of private schooling.

In this land, nobody knows or cares about the tribulations faced by the have-nots.

It’s a situation that needs addressing.

Kekeletso Nakeli-Dhliwayo.

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