A BROKEN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM THAT BREEDS BUREAUOCRATIC DO-NOTHINGNESS & INDOLENCE

Commemorating June 16, 1976, as we do from year to year,  in recognition of the uprising and sacrifice of Soweto school learners is the least the country can do to honour the courage of those involved. 

What we fail to underscore was the deep-seated frustration experienced  by students forced to endure second-rate education.  Marching against Afrikaans as a medium of instruction was the last straw against an insidious educational system. 

Reflecting on the standard of present day basic and higher education, change in form has far outweighed change in substance.  Our educational system remains second-rate, and is not meeting the needs of our student body - they are no better off in comparison to 1976.  Literacy and numeracy are oxymorons in the educational context.  I know this from tutoring at a primary school.  

The decay in the standard of education is further compounded by Education Department bureaucrats disinterest in improving the system.  By way of example, I have sought cognitive and learning disorder assessment and intervention for young learners desperately in need of remedial education, but to no avail, either from school administrators, or the Minister herself.  There is a lesson to be learnt - one should not expect responsiveness from an environment that is a breeding ground for do-nothingness and indolence.  

South Africa's children do not deserve an educational system that is irreparably broken.  We owe it to them because "If not us, then who? If not now, then when?"