How quickly the year goes by: at the end of this month, you will be taking your first break of the year. This is another reminder that you should make use of every second, minute or hour profitably because, before you realise it, exams will be upon you.
Education was one of the beneficiaries of this year’s budget allocation, and millions of rands will be poured into Education Minister Naledi Pandor’s portfolio.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel was indeed in a generous mood, giving the education department R105billion. This includes R700million that will be used for teacher bursaries, R850million for Abet and R8,1billion for hiring extra teachers, assistants and supporting staff. Encouraging stuff indeed!
But, as it is pointed out in one of the stories we carry on the subject, there were silences as well, particularly on another crucial area of education: early childhood development. As an entry point into the world of learning, this aspect of education should also be given a share of the millions.
The challenge now lies with the education department, which still has to decide how these millions should trickle down to each of the nine education departments. Its performance in this regard has not been inspiring, as millions of rands keep getting returned to the treasury come the end of the financial year. We can only hope that this time round the department has wised up and will not waste time in tackling the problems that education faces.
The month of March is dedicated to the celebration of human rights values and principles. In keeping with the spirit of this theme, we carry an article which indicates that many South Africans still do not know their human rights 13 years into our democracy. Children still suffer from all sorts of deprivations, and are being prematurely exposed to adult challenges such as heading their families. The article goes on to give tips on how to teach and cultivate human rights values and culture in a classroom situation.
We also carry a story on what has become a vexing question of transfer and cross-transfer. We show how some of the teachers who work far away from their families have their lives turned upside down because they cannot get transfers. It is a heart-breaking story and we hope the powers that be will review policies and look at some of the deserving cases rather than using a ‘one size fits all†approach.
We also carry another topical issue about mother tongue language, which, in a sense, is linked to the theme on human rights. There is overwhelming scientific evidence that people who receive education in their home language stand a good chance of performing better. Our own minister of education supports this view. We hope you will find this an enriching and thought-provoking piece.
We hope you will enjoy this edition and we would also like to appeal to you to write to us or phone us about any subject that you feel would help the profession grow. At any rate, the Teacher is your paper!