More than 10 000 learners gathered in Cape Town’s Grand Parade on Human Rights Day on March 21 to demand that the government provides libraries for every school in the country.
More than 90% of public schools do not have adequate libraries, the Mail & Guardian reported online on Thursday.
Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told thousands of learners who had gathered in the Grand Parade before marching on Parliament that inequalities in education provision were still affecting millions.
“It is absolutely scandalous that only 8% of public schools have adequate libraries, mostly in privileged former Model C schools,” he said. “Access to books — and these days we need to add access to computers with internet access [as well] — is a necessary part of every child’s education.”
He pointed out that 1,5-million South African children started school in 1998 but only 21,5% of those passed matric last year (334 609 learners), and only 7% (109 697 learners) achieved university entrance passes.
The NGO Equal Education (EE) is spearheading the school library campaign nationally and coordinated the weekend’s march. EE spokesperson Yoliswa Dwane told the Mail & Guardian on Tuesday that Grand Parade was filled to capacity: “You couldn’t even see a bare patch of ground — the place was covered with learners in their school uniforms.”
After Vavi’s address, the learners marched to Parliament, where they handed a petition with 65 000 signatures to acting basic education Director General Bobby Soobrayan. This is 15 000 more than the target EE told the M&G last week it had set.
Young Communist League leader Buti Manamela also addressed the crowd.
Metro Rail provided a free train service to Cape Town Central for learners from Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain. Dwane says that three full trains, each with a carrying capacity of 5 000 passengers, brought learners to the city centre.
The campaign will continue with further marches — on the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Friday March 26, and in Polokwane on March 30.
“I wish your campaign well and promise that the South African workers are with you all the way,” Vavi told the learners. “This is a campaign we simply cannot afford to lose.”