Students at Unisa are being taught old-style=20 Verwoerdian values, reports Pat Sidley
`THERE ought to be a single education department for=20 all education on the central level. Differentiation=20 should only be introduced on the next level through the=20 creation of four education departments for the four=20 main population groups.
“For education to take place, the following conditions=20 must exist. At least two people belonging to the same=20 ethnic or cultural group are required to constitute an=20 education situation, namely an adult and an adult-to-
Old-style apartheid education philosophy that went out=20 last year with the elections? No such luck.
These are among the concepts currently being taught to=20 tens of thousands of education students at the=20 University of South Africa (Unisa), most of them black=20 teachers trying to upgrade their qualifications.
Although there have been moves to prompt changes in the=20 education faculty, the old course material — along=20 with old methods and old lecturers — ensure that=20 students are taught old-style Verwoerdian apartheid=20 education philosophy.
Making matters worse, say educators close to the=20 department, is that the language used is so poor that=20 little of it is intelligible to the students. Almost=20 all students take their courses in English, but about=20 90 percent of the course material is produced in=20 Afrikaans and then translated.=20
Unisa academics, many of them desperate about the=20 situation, are saying one can lay much of the blame for=20 the poor quality of black education at the feet of the=20 education faculty, its links to the Broederbond (now=20 the Afrikaner Bond) and the faculty’s lack of desire=20 for change.=20
There is little incentive to change, however, as almost=20 all the prescribed textbooks, bought by some 30000=20 students annually, are written by the education faculty=20 academics themselves. This ensures a captive audience=20 and thousands of rands pocketed annually by university=20 staff members prescribing their own books.
The above quotes come from textbooks in current use,=20 written by Unisa staffers GAG Grissel and OJ van=20 Schalkwyk and prescribed for students.
A revolt within Unisa has thus far proved futile and,=20 despite promises from the university administration to=20 attend to the problem as well as the university’s=20 change in political rhetoric, nothing has happened.
A significant number — said to be as many as half –=20 of the country’s black teachers study education at=20 Unisa. It is seen as an easy course — as opposed to=20 maths or science — and is used to gain further credits=20 to move up a notch on the salary scale. International=20 assesments of the course, however, have cast doubt on=20 its ability to teach teachers how to deal adequately=20 with the classroom situation.
With retrenchments among underqualified black teachers,=20 the number of teachers trying to upgrade their=20 qualifications has jumped significantly, with some=20 10000 students — many of them already teaching –=20 registered to begin the three-year course this year.=20 There were 5 000 registered for first year last year.
The South African Institute for Distance Education and=20 the ANC’s education desk two years ago called in a=20 high-level international team of specialists in=20 distance education, sponsored by the Ford Foundation=20 and the World Development Bank, to carry out a review=20 of Unisa courses. The team’s report in August condemned=20 the education faculty and called for a ministerial=20 investigation. It described the teacher education at=20 Unisa as “dysfunctional to the profession”.
A local group of distance education specialists who=20 have reviewed the Unisa material have offered to help=20 redesign course material but have so far been rebuffed.
Education faculty members have been slow to take up the=20 issues within Unisa, say sources, as the faculty=20 appears dominated by heavyweight Afrikaner Bond=20 members. But concerned staffers of related departments=20 have appealed to Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu=20 and discussed the issue with Education Ministry deputy=20 director general John Samuel.
Late last year, SJJ van den Berg, the head of the=20 university’s editorial division, which edits and=20 translates all course material sent out to students,=20 wrote in desperation to Bengu, appealing to him to=20
At around that time, say sources, the university’s=20 principal, Professor Marinus Wiechers, apparently=20 promised to close the education faculty while it=20 reviewed its courses — but that did not happen.
An internal inquiry was ordered and vice-principal=20 Professor Simon Maimela said this week that he expected=20 to be able to act as soon as next week, when the=20 inquiry’s report will be released.
But despite all these moves, it’s business as usual in=20 the faculty. Thousands of students had been registered=20 for their 1995 courses before the internal inquiry was=20 over, “compelling” the university to keep the courses=20 going.The education faculty’s academic staff, who were=20 aware that the issue was about to become public some=20 weeks ago, have declined to answer inquiries from the=20 Weekly Mail & Guardian and referred the issue to=20
His office this week declined to comment, saying he was=20 in meetings.
However, staffers close to the row have told the WM&G=20 that Wiechers intends to make some kind of statement on=20 the issue next week. They hope he will announce that=20 the local grouping will be pulled in to design new=20 courses and until this takes place a moratorium on=20 education courses will be declared and students=20 referred to other faculties.
Meanwhile, increasingly angry staffers, who fear=20 reprisals if they are identified, have turned to the=20 press in a last-ditch attempt to improve the education=20 of the educators.According to one academic, education=20 as it is presently taught at Unisa is the “teaching arm=20 of apartheid ideology and this has been the case for=20 the past 40 years”. The subject known for years as=20 Fundamental Pedagogics (now known as Philosophy of=20 Education) underpins this type of education, he says,=20 and describes it as essentially a “Dutch-Germanic semi- Nazi philosophy”.