Bheki Khumalo responds to Tleane’s Console’s article ”Asmal’s fading star” which appeared in the November issue of The Teacher
It is time to put a halt to Console Tleane’s pejorative and politically-inspired broadside on the Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal.
Tleane sang the minister’s praises when he was appointed; now he lectures us on ”Asmal’s fading star” — setting himself up as a representative voice of the people who ”believe too easily and take things at face value”.
To what end?
Tleane made a career for himself in the eighties and early nineties by propagating a strong anti-African National Congress stance. Who can forget his tenure as a student leader of Azasco? Perhaps it is too much to expect a ”ZimZim” — Azapo activists– to provide an independent analysis of Minister Asmal’s attempts to improve education.
Tleane blames the minister for doing the right thing — reviewing Curriculum 2005. Some countries review their curriculum every three years. Cabinet, the majority of teachers, parents and even teacher unions have welcomed the streamlining of the curriculum.
Tleane’s article contains tiresome paragraphs which claim that the minister is under fire for the report on higher education. His regurgitation of the statement that the Council for Higher Education (CHE) report is aimed at the closure of historically black institutions flies in the face of the minister’s repeated injunction to the CHE not to target these institutions.
Since 1994 the Department of Education began a series of transformational policies. We are gradually breaking down the apartheid edifice in our system. Indications are that – for the first time in more than two decades — we are beginning to see positive results. Already we are receiving reports that attendance and punctuality have improved, better management and administrative systems are being put in place and there is a new zeal in many schools. These changes are what many have been calling for.
Tleane says the minister has unilaterally reviewed the ”teacher appraisal system”. For his information, the correct term is ”developmental appraisal”. Although the original Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) agreement with unions allowed for an annual review, this has not yet been initiated. Instead, the ministry, together with teacher unions, has embarked on a process of advocacy aimed at strengthening and expanding the system of development appraisal.
Teacher unions are social partners in the development and delivery of education. International practice tells us that the most successful educational reforms are those that have emerged hand in hand with teachers. It therefore goes without saying that we need teachers represented by these unions to work with us in the massive task of education transformation.
Tleane agitates for ”more resources”. He deliberately forgets to mention that apartheid’s low spending for blacks has left us with a backlog in the provision of infrastructure, laboratories, libraries, textbooks, playing fields and other basic facilities. We are faced with a history of deliberate under-investment which cannot be eliminated overnight.
We welcome criticism. It can be grounds for reflecting and improving our performance, but when attacks are launched on spurious grounds they are worthy of a sharp rebuke. We have no doubt that Minister Asmal — judging by the public support and letters he receives — has placed our education system on the road to a complete revival.
Bheki Khumalo was spokesperson for the Minister of Education
Letters express the views of independent contributers, not those of The Teacher newspaper
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, January 2001.
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