Minister of Education Kader Asmal was applauded this week when he outlined a five-year plan of action to repair what he termed a “dysfunctional” education system. In so doing, the minister put his finger on what we all know already: that our education system is in deep crisis.
We also know what needs to be done: restore the culture of learning and teaching; boost teacher morale; make schools safe havens for communities; and focus attention on illiteracy. In essence, what is required is the transformation of our education system into one that can uplift and drive our nation forward.
We are encouraged by the new energy that is coursing through the Department of Education as “Professor Delivery” emerges from his intensive listening campaign and puts flesh on the bones of his plans.
But the country demands more than lofty intentions, 12-point plans, glowing new policy papers. We want action. If Asmal can sort out the basics, like getting the provinces to deliver and making teaching and learning happen properly in schools again, he will have succeeded magnificently where others have so far failed.
We still wait to see how he plans to handle the seemingly intractable problem of trying to deliver proper education on a squeezed budget. Although research shows that quality education does not necessarily mean costly education, the fact that teacher salaries consume 90% of the education budget represents a persistent headache that won’t go away.
Given inflation rates and the soaring cost of living, it is only fair that teachers should get annual increases which amount to more than a few extra rands. But if provinces are going to have any money left for textbooks, stationery and classrooms, we have to start budgeting and doing things differently.
For a start, it is high time that non- performing teachers are given their marching orders so that those who are doing the job properly are paid like the professionals they are, and those worthy of teaching posts are not hawking oranges to make a living.
While we respect the government’s commitment to fiscal discipline – a commitment which it is demonstrating as protesting teachers and civil servants take to the streets this week – education is one arena where we should not scrimp. It is an investment in the country’s social and economic health.
South Africa’s children were at the receiving end of decades of apartheid education that undermined their right to achieve their full potential as human beings. The challenge for Asmal and those who now hold the reins of responsibility is to ensure that a very different legacy is bequeathed to the generations of the future.
Peace of the brave
The hunt is on again in earnest for a “peace of the brave” between Israel and its Arab neighbours. But if it happens – and this is an “if” that echoes across a 50- year-old wasteland of enmity, bigotry and broken dreams – it is most likely to be a peace of the pragmatists.
The gathering momentum is the product of the practical concerns of key players and a happy conjunction of events, rather than any loftier vision of reconciliation. Israel’s new Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, has a workable Knesset majority and a strength of character that suggests he can make a deal stick.
After the negativity of Binyamin Netanyahu, Barak is a confidence-building measure all by himself. But he knows he will be judged by his ability to deliver his peace pledges. Syria’s long-serving President Hafez Assad has already indicated that Barak is a man with whom he can do business.
Direct, bilateral talks on the return of the Golan Heights and an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon in return for a peace treaty and security guarantees could begin within weeks, according to Barak’s officials. Assad’s government has reportedly told militant Palestinian groups in Damascus, and the Hizbullah in Lebanon, to prepare to end their armed struggle.
But why has Assad shifted? Not out of any sudden empathy for the Zionist foe. Assad, tired and ailing, sees a chance finally to reverse his humiliating 1967 Golan defeat. He wants a clear path for his son and successor, Bashar. And he is not averse to sidelining Yasser Arafat, whose Palestine Liberation Organisation leadership he scorns.
For Arafat this is a fraught but also an opportune moment. Undermined by Hamas and the suicide bombers of Islamic Jihad – and under fire from mainstream Palestinian opinion over the stalled Wye accord, corruption among his officials, and his hesitation over proclaiming a Palestinian state – Arafat desperately needs to demonstrate progress. Most of all, he needs land, starting with the 13% of the West Bank promised last year. Given the dangers inherent in his weakened position, he must in turn give ground.
By sponsoring the process, Bill Clinton (rebuffed in Ulster) hopes to claim the big foreign policy triumph that might redeem his tarnished second term.
There are problems enough ahead in any eventuality. From within, Jewish and Arab extremists will resist each compromise, reject every concession. From without, Iranian hardliners (sponsors of Hizbullah) and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq will stir the pot.
But who will complain if it is converging self-interest rather than altruism or vision that finally does the trick?