State of disaster exposed educational disaster spanning decades; finding solutions is possible and vital
17 January 2022
The state of disaster in South Africa exposed an educational disaster spanning decades and with the re-opening of the country's schools, the spotlight is sure to fall on the educational system's shortcomings once again. Schools in coastal provinces are scheduled to re-open this week, while learners living in the interior returned to school last week.
Various role players have indicated that there is no longer any sense in imposing lockdown regulations on schools. It is in the best interest of education not to repeat any of the rotation and other restrictive measures this year, but that is only the tip of the iceberg.
The underlying problem is the ANC government's approach to education. Instead of expanding infrastructure and actively supporting underperforming schools, the focus seems to be on constraining schools, which succeed in combining good management with professional education, by means of overregulation. In addition, the possibilities offered by home-schooling are also being neglected or restricted.
In terms of post-1994 ANC policy, an equal amount of money is spent on each learner, except in schools where no school fees are levied – there even more money is allocated for each learner. The gap between schools that have developed or retained a strong learner culture and those that did not has widened significantly. And then learner numbers increase with tens of thousands every year, but infrastructure development does not take place at the same rate.