Adult learners face the debilitating problem of transporting themselves to and from their centre of learning.
AT 13, Reginah was bringing up two sisters and four brothers. She yearned to become a nursery school teacher, but never had the opportunity. As soon as she was old enough, she became an apprentice invisible mender. Later she became a baker and cake decorator, but the dream lived on. Meanwhile her responsibilities increased — there was a child of her own. Then she heard about night school. She wrote matric this year. She believes that education is the key to a better life.
Maiven is a welder in his early 30s. He is married with a 6-year-old son, but he lives alone. His wife and son are in Zimbabwe. In 1997, 10 years after leaving school, he began studying again. He is in matric this year.
Alfred grew up on a farm and schooling was not an option until he was 16-years-old and then he soon dropped out. Now, at thirty-five, he seeks promotion, but the firm insists he passes matric first.
The stories go on. These are all students of the Optimus Foundation for Adult Education and Training, a non-governmental organisation. Optimus rents day-school premises for their four night schools: Witkoppen Primary school in Fourways; Florida Park High school; St Theresa’s school in Coronationville; and Mashakhane Primary school in Zandspruit. In 1998 just over 1 000 students attended the various classes.
Optimus originated in 1976 when volunteer teachers taught informal night classes to approximately 80 students at Witkoppen Farm School. As the demand grew the supervisor approached Sylvia Gordon to create a more formal structure. In 1984, the Fourways Adult Education Centre opened with 400 students. In 1991, the foundation was set up to raise funds and establish new centres. Literacy classes, formal schooling and skills training are offered. Ione Burke, who runs the Gilbeys Literacy Award, only has praise for Optimus.
At the centre at Witkoppen teachers sign in as they arrive (part of the red tape required because teachers’ salaries are paid by the Gauteng Department of Education). This is the only government assistance the centre gets. The classrooms are identical: poor lighting, broken, old, scratched desks, plastic chairs designed for children, and blackboards grey and thin from frequent cleaning.
These learners are artisans or domestic workers, many of whom perceive matric to be the key to employment opportunities, but practical obstacles in their daily lives are often so all-absorbing that academic concerns take second place. Teachers find themselves daunted by these unrealistic expectations.
Registered matriculants number 55 and range from 19- to 65- year-olds. Large classes inhibit individual attention but the main difficulty facing teachers is the lack of continuity. Each lesson must be self-contained because of irregular attendance. One-and-three-quarter hours a week in these circumstances is hardly enough to finish a severely pruned syllabus.
Most students develop a fatalism when faced with difficulties. If they miss class because the taxi they paid for up front doesn’t arrive, they shrug. If an employer needs them to work overtime they comply. If there are unscheduled expenses and they cannot afford transport, it can’t be helped.
Without exception, all adult learners are obsessed with the debilitating problem of transporting themselves to and from their centre of learning. Gauteng places a heavy burden on the lower-income groups. Transport is expensive. To squash up in an overcrowded taxi, Gladys, a learner living in Parkmore, pays R14 for the return trip to Witkoppen for an extra class. Agnes in Ferndale pays R80 a month for a taxi to take her to classes three nights a week. Gladys pays R100. As a proportion of a domestic worker’s wage, this is money they don’t have to spare.
Isn’t adequate, cheap and subsidised transport always going to be a problem? If we deal with this issue, we give the learner the opportunity and ability to concentrate on the task at hand. Education takes time. That is indisputable. It also costs money.
If we have an outstanding educational system and the learners are still unable to get to classes, what have we achieved?
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, February 23, 2000.