Department of Education Director General Thami Mseleku was on Thursday adamant that global recommendations on education are not necessarily appropriate to South Africa.
He said that ”expert advice” from the global community has in the past had detrimental consequences for African education.
Mseleku was responding to questions at the launch of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) 2004 flagship report at the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg on Thursday. The report focuses on girls, education and development.
One of the recommendations of the report is that there be no school fees of any kind. This is seen as essential for achieving the UN’s millennium development goal of every child in school by 2015.
However, the South African Department of Education is not planning to abolish school fees.
Mseleku said that it is ”cheeky” for people who are able to pay for quality education for their own children to say that there should be no fee payment.
”Those people with no interest in the public education system are making decisions on public education,” he said.
He described how parental investment in schooling — paying for extra teachers, for example — can aid the state in the provision of quality education.
”In our view, if you abolish school fees you will let down the public education system,” he said.
Mseleku felt that a greater concern for his department is to ensure that no children are excluded due to lack of funds, and that school fees not be a barrier to education.
Children on a cross-generational discussion panel had some reservations.
Precious Ramushu (16) said they are worried that abolishing school fees will decrease the standard of education. She felt it is the responsibility not only of the Department of Education but of all children and parents to ensure the quality of education is maintained at their schools.
Fifteen-year-old Millet Nkanyane said she is aware that she and the children on the panel are already highly educated compared with their peers in South Africa.
”I think what I can do is go home and let people who think education is impossible know that they can overcome the barriers that they perceive,” she said.
Mseleku welcomed the information contained in the Unicef report, however, and said it raises a number of questions that can be related to the state of South Africa’s children. — Sapa