Douglas Gibson
The new Basic Education Minister, Siviwe Gwarube, was an inspired choice for the Government of National Unity (GNU). She was the Opposition chief whip in Parliament and is highly intelligent, charming, and determined to do something about the crisis in education. She is a force not to be underestimated.
Many are aware of the alarmingly poor standard of education, especially in township schools where the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union has been allowed to run rampant, pushing education departments and officials around and often spending time attacking politicians at meetings that interfere with the classroom time of our children. The results are there for all to see.
The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) states that South Africa’s education system rates 75th out of 76 mainly rich countries. Of learners who have attended school for six years, 27% cannot read. After five years of school, only about half can calculate that 24 divided by 3 = 8.
Google tells us that teaching is at the core of the learning crisis. South Africa needs 25 000 new teachers per year, but only 6 000 are trained. The training of teachers is not good. For example, less than 25% of maths teachers are competent at the level they teach.
Instead of focusing on improving school standards, the previous ANC government (courting the setback it received in the election) paid great attention to the so-called Bela Bill, which has some good content and some awful ones.
These deal with the power of school governing bodies to determine admission numbers and school language. Essentially, provincial education departments would assume these powers, with the inevitable target being well-functioning schools and, particularly, Afrikaans schools. The DA and many others warned that these clauses were unconstitutional and likely to be struck down by the courts.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa said he would proceed with signing the bill, Minister Gwarube advised him in advance that she would not be attending the signing ceremony. The president wisely, and to his credit, decided to suspend the operation of the clauses for three months for further consultation and consideration. But the fact remains that attention is being focused in the wrong place, and education continues to suffer.
Other disastrous actions include the approval by the government of the final public service salary increase of 7.5% for 2023, without increasing the grants to the provinces, which are expected to pay up. The result is quite appalling.
Several thousand teachers are about to be retrenched because the provinces cannot afford to foot the bill. One can understand the dilemma: the previous national government made a mess of the economy and did not resist too enthusiastically the SACP and others who still believe the grossly outdated European socialist ideas of 160 years ago.
All this meant that there was no money and that the provinces would simply have to manage. Because of budget deficits, this is an impossible task. According to the Daily Maverick, the Western Cape, arguably the best-run province in South Africa, has to dispense with 2 407 teachers. In many cases, class sizes will have to go up to 60, instead of the 30 that is recommended.
One of the main aims of the GNU is to focus laser-like on growth. This will provide jobs, and increase the availability of funds to do many of the things we would like to do. One of the most important of those is educating our children for a better future and the challenges of the next 40 years.
Be glad that Minister Gwarube is up to the job of helping to solve the education crisis. She needs strong support.
Gibson is a former opposition chief whip and former ambassador to Thailand.
The Star