| Education for all! Bringing the lesson home in Mzansi |
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Cape Town – 23rd April, 2008 Being able to read and write is something many of us take for granted. Yet millions of people around the world do not enjoy this basic right. It is about time decision-makers acknowledged these sobering statistics and did something to translate their promises of free quality education for all into a reality! This message was conveyed to politicians by some 700 school children in Cape Town today. They were all taking part in the World’s Biggest Lesson – an initiative by the Global Campaign for Education to set a world record for the highest number of people taking the same lesson at the same time. The Forum and its partner help2read brought together eleven schools in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Greater Cape Town to join millions of children, royalty, presidents and musicians in over 100 countries doing the same lesson in the importance of education. Even in our own country, a quality education, or even the ability to read at all, is something only a privileged few can enjoy. This lesson in particular was brought home to two Democratic Alliance representatives at Kenridge primary school in Bellville today. This is a school with the resources to provide a quality of education that other schools around the world can only dream of. Asked to list the reasons why so many children were not as lucky as they were to get a good education, learners came up with: being sick or orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic; being left or neglected by parents; crime and drug abuse; and simply being in the ‘wrong place’, such as on a subsistence farm in rural Limpopo.
Ms. Marais was especially struck by the proportion of girls who do not get to go to school. “This is a big problem in our country, especially in relation to the HIV/AIDS-related crisis of orphans and child-headed households”, she said. She also highlighted the effect of crime on children’s right to education, with some children “even being physically prevented by gangs from attending school”.
Grade 5 teacher Shafiek Bean, shown above left, said one of the most enriching aspects of bringing the World’s Biggest Lesson to Klipfontein was the solidarity the children seemed to feel with their counterparts around the world. They even expressed concern for the children in the Americas, he added jokingly, as they thought these kids must have been woken up in the middle of the night to attend the lesson. To enable people in all corners of the world to take part in the event, organisers set three different hours at which the lesson could be delivered. In South Africa, the lesson took place at 8AM GMT, or 10AM local time. Learners at Klipfontein will get the opportunity to raise the issues they identified directly with an official from the Department of Education who will visit the school next month together with help2read.
Children at the Nomsa Mapongwana school in the Khayelitsha township had the chance to raise their concerns with a municipal officer who attended the lesson at their school. The supreme importance of education to any kind of human development is one of the most universally recognised principles. Why, then, do millions of people continue to go through life without ever learning to read, write or count? In the words of our former president:
“Children of the world, now is the time for your generation to stand side by side together. Together, you can be the generation that sees every child get the education that is their right. World leaders have promised this and you must make sure they keep to it by joining together to speak with one voice. You are the future of this world and can change it for the better. You can make your leaders make their promises happen.”
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Image left: Bellville Local Council member Pickles Claassen (DA) and Anroux J Marais, Member of the provincial Western Cape Parliament (DA) said they welcomed initiatives by schools like Kenridge to reach out to their less privileged counterparts to share some of these resources.
Not so far away from the leafy Bellville suburb, in the township of Athlone, Klipfontein Primary headmaster Ismail Meyer has had to fight tooth-and-nail to secure for his learners even the most basic amenities. Despite many challenges, he has made the school into the centre of the community and despite class sizes of up to 55, he has provided learners with opportunities they would never have had were it not for his fundraising work. If the school had relied only on government funding, the situation would have been quite different. As for the R20 a year per learner in school fees, almost half of the families in the area have been unable to pay them.
Image left: Nomsa Mapongwana Primary - showing Local Councillor Mr G. Ngoma together with Nomveliso Tshazi.
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