The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) accused the Department of Education on Tuesday of taking the credit when pupils from disadvantaged schools do well, while downplaying the bad conditions under which they learn.
Speaking on the last day of the Access to Learning Material Conference in Parktown, Johannesburg, Sadtu’s deputy general secretary Solly Mabusela referred to pupils ”passing by reading in moonlight, using whatever textbooks they can get their hands on”.
Mabusela said that among public schools in Gauteng, 80% have no libraries and only 12% have computer laboratories.
He also highlighted the difficulties faced by pupils in informal settlements. He said these have no access to libraries, because libraries demand proper addresses to register users.
”Is it moral to tell poor kids that they are thieves when they make photocopies of books they cannot afford but desperately need?”
Explaining the department’s position, acting director general Duncan Hindle outlined the problems it faces.
These include the issues of distribution and book retention.
”Every year, the department loses up to a quarter of the books it buys. This costs R500 000 every year.”
He said the model of standalone libraries in schools is ”still very much a dream right now”.
”We have community libraries built in schools where learners share resources with the community. The idea of shared resources seems to working very well, but we are looking into introducing mobile libraries.”
Mabusela said only a 10th of the R1,2-billion budget of the Department of Education is spent on learning materials such as textbooks. — Sapa