One day prior to June 16 the pupils of Inkwenkwezi Primary School in Soweto are gathered in the assembly area. They are asked to think about the day thirty years ago when police opened fire on schoolchildren protesting in the streets of the township.
The headmaster of Inkwenkwezi tells them how, back in 1976, young people decided they had put up with racism and repression for long enough and took to the streets. Their protest marked a turning point in South Africa’s history, with the famous photograph of Hector Pieterson being shown around the world and protests spreading across the country like wildfire.
For the children in the assembly field it is hard to imagine. Thirty years is a long time for 4 to 12 year olds.
Yet, the term ”struggle” rings a bell. Today’s township youth might have political freedom, but life is still hard for them and their families. Three decades on, the challenge has shifted from fighting apartheid to coping with poverty, HIV/Aids, unemployment and inadequate education.
When pupils from Inkwenkwezi watch television, they see a prosperous South Africa that is unfamiliar to them. Most of the children here live in squatter camps where there are no pretty homes with manicured lawns, where there is no money and no food. When headmaster Skipper asked one of his pupils recently what she wanted to be later on in life, the little one responded: ”A white girl.”
The Inkwenkwezi school stands in Zone Six, Diepkloof, one of the poorer areas in Soweto. When Skipper came to Inkwenkwezi in 2001, he found the school in ruins. Windows were broken, there were holes in the walls and ceilings and the toilets were in an awful state.
Under Skipper’s reign the school is now a colourful place in the midst of Zone Six, just behind the Baragwanath hospital. At the entrance a bright yellow wall displays the school emblem and in red letters: ”Welcome to Inkwenkwezi, Field of Dreams.”
Classrooms catering to grade four to seven are positioned around the grassy assembly area. For the younger children there is a jungle gym; for the older pupils a concrete sports field. The school takes pride in both. A library is in the making. An old classroom has been turned into a place where wooden cabinets house a modest selection of picture and reading books. In the back two teachers are devising a system so that students can borrow books and take them home for a few weeks.
Another work in progress is the staff room. A neatly lettered sign is already above the door, but inside the large space looks rather empty. An oval table is placed in the centre of the room but there are no chairs.
According to Skipper it is important to have a place where the teachers can relax. ”If the teachers are happy, they perform better in class”.
A report from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) published earlier this week stated that the daily reality in rural and township schools is incongruous with the legislation and the policies of the national education department.
Section 29 of the South African Constitution guarantees the right to basic education. The state must ensure that this right can be enjoyed by all. The report found that, although much has been accomplished since 1994, there are some key issues that prevent the enjoyment of the right to basic education and are cause for worry. Firstly, poverty impacts on the accessibility of quality education. School fees, school uniforms and transport costs are unaffordable to many.
The red-and-grey school uniform is a precious possession for the children at Inkwenkwezi. ”They are very proud of their uniform,” explains Skipper. ”It brings them uniformity, they can all be the same. If they would have to wear their own clothing, some might get picked on because they’d have nothing to wear.”
Most of the Inkwenkwezi pupils are from nearby squatter camps.
”I would say about 90%,” says Skipper. ”Their parents don’t have jobs and don’t have money to pay for food, clothing, let alone for the annual R60 school fees.”
With no money for the taxi, children as young as four or five walk hours to get to school.
Poverty also impacts on children’s participation in the classroom because they are hungry, said the report.
”It makes them light-headed, which results in problems with concentration and absorbing the material,” says Skipper.
The school provides food every day.
”You can’t teach an empty belly,” says Skipper. For many pupils the meal at school is the only food they will get that day. Classes begin at 7.30am, with a break at 9am for soup and bread. In the afternoon there is another hot meal.
At lunchtime, a siren wails and children seem to ooze out of their classrooms and run for the kitchen. Skipper built the kitchen himself and it now houses two stoves on which volunteers Ethelina and Victoria prepare simple, but nutritious meals. Hungry children line up at a table outside holding green, red and blue plastic plates. The volunteers dish up rice and bean stew, which pupils scoop up greedily with both hands. Swift eaters queue for seconds.
Two other problems the SAHRC has identified in the education system are HIV/Aids and violence and abuse. Many children at Inkwenkwezi deal with issues of abuse and HIV/Aids in their home environment. Many are orphans and some have tested HIV-positive themselves. Many of the slogans on Inkwenkwezi’s outer walls deal with these issues. ”Speak out,” one painted sign says. ”Against abuse” reads another. Underneath a giant red Aids ribbon it says: ”My friend with Aids is still my friend.”
The teachers try their best to make the school into a safe haven for the children, away from the hard life on the street and from their shacks without any form of security or heating. During the cold Gauteng winter every classroom has a heater — another item most children lack at home. ”I can see sadness in some children’s faces,” says Skipper.
”But here is a place where they can be happy, where they can learn, where they are warm and where they get food.”
For most pupils the school is indeed a happy place. ”Let there be sunshine” is painted on the wall facing the dusty playground. At break time a group of nine boys — their long grey trousers rolled up to just below the knee — play a game of soccer using a few bricks for a goal.
”After school we will play on the proper sports field,” says one of the young players, trying to dust off the reddish sand from his uniform before returning to class.
Inkwenkwezi has 790 pupils, up from 350 pupils in 2001.
The government might have provided the building, but it does not fund Inkwenkwezi any further. Since most parents cannot afford to pay school fees, a lot of Skipper’s time is spent fundraising. He teaches life orientation and business economics, and paperwork covers a desk and chairs in his office. Bills from the city council and from disposal company Pikitup lie side by side with papers waiting to be graded and class-attendance reports.
Not only does the constant search for funds eat into his teaching time, he admits the task of running the school is not easy. How in heaven’s name is he supposed to raise money to service the photocopier and the fax machine and for the electricity bills that creep higher in winter?
”In such moments I turn to this little book,” he says, pointing to a tattered little red Bible lying between the bills. ”But it remains difficult.”
Still, he wants every child in school. Skipper visits his pupils’ homes on the weekends to check up on them and also tries to convince their parents of the importance of a good education. When it comes to education, it is not just about money, he says.
”It is about passion. I want every child to come to school. In that aspect the money is a thing to worry about later,” he says. ”I will cross that bridge when I get there.”
Today, 30 years after the Soweto uprisings, Skipper is somewhat disillusioned about 1976. ”There is still no free education,” he says. ”The structure of black schools is imbalanced; buildings are not renovated and government funding is insufficient.”
The SAHRC report also highlights the vast gap between resourced former Model C schools and those in rural areas and townships.
Skipper believes strongly in the components of transparency and accountability. With the funding he gets, such as from The Soweto Project, Skipper tries to incorporate these in his managing of the school. ”These two should also improve drastically with the new management of this country. Democracy has been misused and power has been abused to self-enrich.”
With the government spending a lot of money on importing educational testing systems from the United Kingdom, the emphasis has been misplaced, according to Skipper.
”South Africa is trying to play a global game with its educational system, when it should start at home on the ground. Mbeki does not seem to understand where we come from; he’s spent his youth in London.”
Skipper dreams about the future. ”I want to have more classes and I want students to become multilingual.”
Standing on the doorstep of class 4B and looking out over the dusty grounds of Soweto he is hopeful. ”I am a visionary and a workaholic. It will happen.”