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Unions and fee-free campaigners should consult the various initiatives around SA that can provide guidance toward the sort of education and support systems it needs, says Terry Bell.
IT SEEMS I might not have been so foolhardy after all when I forecast last week that, despite all oppositional the sound and fury, President Jacob Zuma would remain in place. Also that the chaos would continue along with lobbying and various efforts at manipulation.
However, just being free is not enough. Quality education of an equal standard, from nursery school through to university, has to be the demand.
This was a point highlighted on Tuesday in Khayelitsha by now retired deputy chief justice, Dikgang Moseneke. Speaking to a large audience at the launch of his autobiography, My Own Liberator, he also stressed the need to listen to argument and to think critically.
However, the focus at the moment remains on finance, on fee-free education, especially at tertiary level. In line with this, Cosatu, supported by student groups and others, has given notice that a national strike will be called to support this call.
The notice, under section 77 or the Labour Relations Act, has gone to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). This move gives workers the right to stop work as “protest action to promote or defend socio-economic interests...”
Cosatu stresses the economic aspect, noting that “our members are the ones who are expected to pay for education they cannot afford”. The labour federation lays the blame on the arrogance of “national government and big business”.
A national work stoppage may focus the attention of lawmakers on education and even on the demand for a wealth tax to finance a fee free era in education. But what sort of education is wanted — and needed?
Apart from generally vague calls for more technical programmes and an ongoing series of rows about a language policy, there is little new on offer. At the same time, there is considerable disgruntlement among teachers and their unions about the current school curriculum.
However, there are several independent initiatives that have proven themselves and seem to point to the way forward. Included is an incredible story, now published, about a community-driven educational project that has transformed many lives in the heart of the Karoo.
Started in 1989 as a pre-school project for the children of farm workers, the Hantam Community Educational Trust (HCET) has grown into a school catering for Grades 1 to 9, with the trust providing bursaries for further education and vocational training. An accredited hospitality training centre was also established in recent years.
Centred on the school there is a clinic, a pharmacy, and a range of outreach activities including an “effective parenting project”. This project, operated by graduates from the school, visits pregnant women in the community with advice on child care. It is credited with the general improvement in community health and the decline in cases of foetal alcohol syndrome in the district.
More recent developments that have proved a success include the multi-lingual Professional Educator Training in Schools (PETS), a scheme for upgrading teacher skills.
Piloted in Barrydale in the Western Cape it was started by former education ministry adviser, Dr Michael Rice and is the first on-line course in South Africa to improve teachers’ subject knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages. Rice notes that it was “designed and created for teachers, by teachers and tested in the classroom”.
The PETS programme has now linked up with e-Classroom, devised by former advertising executive Natalie Wood. By means of corporate sponsorship, e-Classroom provides free worksheets and subject guidance for students — along help for teachers and parents — from reception level to Grade 12.
These are some of the initiatives around the country that can provide guidance toward the sort of education and support systems the country needs. As such, they should be consulted by unions and fee-free campaigners in order to provide a clear alternative to the present shambles in education.
What these examples and others, such as the community schools project initiated by the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, reveal clearly is that the level of fees is only one aspect of a much greater problem.
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