The South African Democratic Teachers Union warns against removing older learners from school, saying the move will entrench a disadvantaged class.
SHARON HAMMOND reports
BLACK pupils will still be seriously disadvantaged if the government proceeds with plans to remove children who are considered too old to be at school, the South African Democratic Teachers Union warned on Wednesday.
The union said in a statement on Wednesday that many “children” were aged 21 while studying in Grade 9 or 10.
Sadtu’s Northern Province secretary, Morebudi Thamaga, said many rural children started school at a later age because they had to wait until they were old enough to walk many kilometres to school. “They wait until they have grown up to be able to cross rivers, dongas and forests,” Thamaga explained. He said some schools in the province had already begun removing children considered too old to be in certain Grades.
“There are pupils in schools who are over-aged but well mannered and scholarly and to withdraw them is unwarranted and short-sighted an approach,” said Thamaga. He said the education department was “dangerously naïve” to think of implementing a policy of removing over-aged pupils, as many would not find work if they couldn’t complete their schooling and would use violent means to survive. The department would be committing a major political blunder, especially if it implemented such a policy in provinces as rural as Northern Province, he said. Thamaga also criticised department inspectors who visited schools to determine resource problems.
“If they find there are no books at schools, they fail to help, because their only mission is to find fault with the educators,” he explained. The department should also accept blame for shortcomings in education and should fund the training of teachers in Outcomes Based Education instead of putting the onus on the union.
“The notion of the budget determining the needs rather than the needs determining the budget shall not assist the process of transformation in any way,” said Thamaga.
— African Eye News Service, January 27, 2000.