Education: If it's not broken don't fix it
THE argument put forward by Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, that forcing schools to increase their learner intake would reduce pressure on over-crowding in other schools, is a sham (see report).
Motshekga's latest outburst over the decision of the Supreme Council of Appeal's decision, to uphold the right of school governing bodies to determine admission policies of their schools and to determine the capacity of the school is most unfortunate.
The disparity between the top schools in our country and the impoverished schools is there for all to see. But the continual attack on high-performing schools, in particular ex-model C schools, as somehow being the cause of this discrepancy in standards indicates the absence of a clear and logical plan to address the fundamental issues at hand.
Statistics received in response to a parliamentary question submitted by the DA to KZN Education MEC, Senzo Mchunu, reveal that some 670 000 pupils in the province are in classes with more than 40 learners. Thousands of children are being marked from a young age as having virtually no hope of escaping the treadmill of poverty, ignorance and despair;
At best, if the Minister gets her way, a few thousand extra pupils could find themselves being accommodated in schools where the current class size is around 30 learners. But this would not dent the classroom shortage for the hundreds of thousands crammed into the old Bantu Education Department schools.
The obvious and honest first step is to present to the country an audit of our school infra-structure needs, the cost of fixing it and a long-term programme of how it will be done and the consequences against the various options. Currently there is too little information available on the extent of the problem and too few intelligent, transparent and practical proposals.
Minister Motshekga must focus on getting the basics right and move away from popular political rhetoric.
Statement issued by Tom Stokes, MPP, DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, January 11 2013
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