If I was one of the matric Class of 2003, I reckon I’d be pretty peeved. There I am, pleased as punch with how well I’ve done to cross that mighty hurdle that everyone and their mum had said I had to cross since I was six, and suddenly there is a general public uproar questioning the validity of the exams I have just mastered.
But then, having proudly framed my certificate and accepted the last words of praise from my loved ones, I would probably have gone cold with the fear that I’m simply not properly prepared to find my way in the world.
This is, after all, the fundamental point of the education system — right? To give learners the tools and knowledge to live a fulfilled life? And I have to ask, because sometimes it seems more about a platform for politicians to strut their stuff, a (more-or-less) safe place for parents to drop their kids off at as they go to work, or a seriously elaborate government structure to provide stable employment to thousands of people.
I’m not going to go through the many arguments that cast doubt on the real value of this year’s improved matric pass rate. Suffice is to say that in the editorial I wrote this time last year, the unemployment rate among the youth was at 60%. Last month a Human Sciences Research Council executive director stated that a staggering 73% of youth under 30 have never worked.
What I do want to look at are the Department of Education’s (DoE) priorities for the year. According to the DoE’s Strategic Plan for 2004, two biggies are the implementation of the Revised National Curriculum Statement and the first set of mergers for institutions of higher education. Other important areas include improving the HIV/Aids programme; addressing dysfunctional schools; and focusing on children in distress (particularly street children, children in prison and orphans).
All of these are undoubtedly valid areas that need to be tackled. But the priority I search for and fail to find is that of a concerted and far-reaching strategy to improve the education of our educators.
Here I’m not only referring to educators who continue to be under- or unqualified. I’m not only referring to effective training in OBE and Curriculum 2005 to fill in the gaps that the patchy attempts of the past have left. I’m referring most of all to the fact that the DoE proudly champions the nation’s cause of life-long learning — and yet does not provide for the effective continued training and skilling of its own employees.
I doubt it’s an oversight. It’s more like it’s such a daunting undertaking, what with the logistics and the expense, that they prefer not to make it at all.
But they owe it to those who deliver their grand plans of an equitable, quality education — the teachers.
And they owe it too to those who receive it. There can be no failing our nation’s school-leavers.
I can only hope we haven’t failed the Class of 2003.