Publications
Partners
I knew South African education was in trouble when very educated men and women towered us all pushing for a primary school drop-out to be the president of the country, without even ABET to argue his case. It was not long and the education minister approved that one can pass matric with only 33% average. I had not had children at that time but I wondered what kind of education would they get.
Education should not have been allowed to be a money making business but with the rate things are going, the boom of private schools will extend to the tertiary institutions, making education only accessible to the rich.
Before our educationally compromised statesman, my worry was about the schools which offer no extramural activities. I failed to understand how they would shape a balanced mind on children when there is no physical education to get the blood running normally in those young bodies. Spare an hour and drive around the townships and see the makeshift setups offered as schools absent facilities for children. Take another hour driving within the CBD’s to see the old buildings converted to expensive private schools with no recreational facilities but inadequate teachers. A friend of mine brought his younger brother from the rural areas to live with him and take advantage of a better education in the city, but the kid ended up being the kingpin in playing dice at school. Lord have mercy! I cannot ask how we got to this because I have already mentioned one of the things that contributed.
While the university students call for free education and decolonised education, I believe it would only be proper for business companies to be proactive and help. After all, business companies have vested interest in their communities with their workforce and as well as their customers. For businesses to grow, they need consumers who afford their products. The best way for businesses to be involved is to start investing in the basic education in the communities. It is true that not every child has to have a university degree or not every child will get a university degree, which is why the local business need to engage the communities showing them the relevance and a bigger picture for children to see where they could go while they learn in school. Trust me, I know all about the frustrations the Bantu Education brought when people drew locusts and frogs in class with no relevance to their aspirations if there were any. Charlie Katz, Director of Corporate Engagement at the National Academy Foundation (NAF) in the United States, addresses this at length.
It is not too early for schools to invite guests from different professions to come speak to the pupils about the careers out there and what is needed to achieve them. Port Shepstone High School used to have a program called Work Experience within their English subject syllabus. This is where they were giving their Standard 8(now known as Grade 10) pupils two weeks to work at any industry and return with a full report on what they were doing and how one gets to work there. That is how I got in the Fashion Retail Industry as a Buyer.
The business sector needs to partner with schools and offer this kind of program from at least Grade 8 to open those young minds to what is out there and also trigger the entrepreneurial possibilities. Seminars should be conducted even on weekends giving the pupils an idea of what they would confront in the work place. This will not only teach them the work but also help them with creating relationships and building a database they would use long before they start the actual work.
Like us, SoSaysMyDad on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @SoSaysMyDad1, a movement set to encourage hands-on fathers in parenting.
