As I do in January every year, I visited schools in our community in Johannesburg South. This year, I focused on visiting high schools. I visited schools that produced good matric results last year as well as those that didn’t do as well as was hoped.
After visiting over half a dozen schools, I am left with a few interesting impressions. In some cases, surprising impressions.
Firstly, it was wonderful to see the commitment that principals have not only for their learners, but for their school itself. There is a direct correlation between well-performing schools and good school principals. This is demonstrated at the end-of-year results, not just with matrics, but also all other grades.
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Parents, irrespective of background, culture, creed or race, uniformly want one thing: the best possible education for their children. As a result, many young people travel far from their homes to go to school to receive the best education where schools near their homes do not provide the desired optimal education usually because of teachers that are heavily politicised and unionised.
I was surprised to learn that even in schools where a black indigenous language is made available; many black parents prefer that their children take Afrikaans as a subject instead. This is a prime example of how far apart the real world is to those of the world of politicians who vilify Afrikaans.
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Despite the inefficiency from the education department, school principals and school governing bodies creatively overcome these unnecessary hurdles thus ensuring that we produce the best matric graduates. This gives me hope and is important that we fend off government’s tentacles of further interference in our schools.
Manny de Freitas MP, Shadow Minister of Tourism / Member of Parliament for Johannesburg South Democratic Alliance
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