Education outcomes a case for economic freedom Rune Mawethu, The Bottom Line, Johannesburg, 5 February 2015 On 6th January 2015 Minister Motshega announced that class of 2014 had passed with 75,8 % for all intents and purpose 75% it's a good pass and this cohort of learners deserve to be congratulated and be wished all the best in its future endeavours. Albeit challenges it can be read from 2014 results not only of matric but all grades that education system is stabilizing. With greater consensus it is now shared that education is the plausible escape from generational poverty and domination, therefore we can never have time to rest on our laurels but we must agree that much more still has to be done, as we argue in this piece that remains yawning racial, gender and class inequalities, which has serious interlinked and interdependence with education system performance and quality. A need arises to ponder beyond percentages and consider a state of each learner which started schooling 12 years ago juxtaposed against nice pictures we had seen of pupils which are starting school in 2015, with central question being that as a country are we providing necessary and required support for learners to succeed? Not as an excuse but historic fact with colossal repercussions, we must not dismiss the fact that we come from an era which was defined by reductionist doctrine of Hendrik Verwoerd "There is no place for [the Bantu] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour... What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice?..That is quite absurd. Education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live.", this philosophy had disastrous implications for education in this country and it will be naïve to suggest that its imprints are not visible even on today state of education, as a black child had to be subjected to classrooms…underline classrooms not school, even in those classrooms there was no investment in building schools, no resources, no infrastructure, no proper sanitation, no electricity, no clean drinking water, no basic recreational facilities, no computer labs, no laboratories, no quality and adequately trained teachers etc. And of course we must then recognise remarkable strides which have been made in improving quality and quantity of South African education post 1994, as part of these efforts now we have one education system from plethora we use to have. Basic education has reached universal access and further no child is turned from school because his or her sin is being poor. Less reports of books not arriving in time are reported and all learners are tested in three grades on common paper with various interventions to assist learners and empower teachers. To mitigate against conditions not created by schools, todate there are more than 80% of no fee schools, schools within deserving quintiles receive nutrition and school transport provided. ANC Manifesto commits on building 1,000 new schools, to eradicate mud and improper schools, expand access to education and respond to the challenges of rural schooling and urban population growth. South Africa spends more than 5% of GDP on education spending more than any other country on the continent. On universities, while ANC has continued to commit on progressively introducing free education but is now ensuring that that no academically deserving child is denied to study and NSFAS allocations has continued to increase. National Students Financial Scheme increased from R3, 1billion in 2009 to the current R9, 6bn and non-payment for poor students on TVET sector. Academic enterprise of the two new universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape has started in earnest and a third dedicated health Sciences University built. TVET will enrol more than one million students in TVET colleges in 2014 and enrol an additional 500,000 students in the next five years and twelve TVET's built. With that being said, it must be worrisome that as contained on the 5th January, SADTU press statement titled "Enrolment, Retention and Throughput' www.sadtu.org.za observing that "In 2002, approximately 1.1 million learners enrolled in Grade 1 and of these learners, less than 50% wrote the current National Senior Certificate Examination not withstanding those who are repeating, and out of this numbers about 150 000 gained university entrance. We remain with a large number of learners who are unaccounted for'' Aspirations of more than 500 000 thousands pupils and their families are not just statistics, but shattered future of this country and devastation of being trapped in systematic poverty. As a country what do we say to more than 500 000 pupils and their parents whom appreciate that without matric certificate or any other qualification chances of living better life to majority of them are slim? If indeed as it should education is apex priority, how do we account for what future has in store for this cohort, can we look them not through percentages and statistics but in their faces and say all will be well. It can never be said that this cohort drop out, because they are incapable of passing or their brains are so stiff they can't comprehend with schooling but social ills and socio conditions appear to confirm that education challenges do not begin with education per se but are integral part of struggle of oppressed people as a whole, hence twenty one year's into democracy and African working class child still subjected to conditions that make him or her to drop out of school or not succeed must not be acceptable. It requires no one to be rocket scientist (not that studying a solid still object can be any complex) to confirm that success in schooling system have propensity of following well-resourced and affluent communities. It is only fair to observe that quintile 1 schools do much better as compared to quintile 5 schools, no wonder even awards are categorised per quintiles. It is intellectual silly to parade one or two pupil who beat the odds and do exceptional well from quintile 5 schools when the general rule his or her colleagues over twelve years of schooling have joined the ranks of unaccounted youth and then want to suggest it all depend on individual determination. Hard work and commitment are critical for any student but it would wold be disingenuous to suggest that success or failure rest on that variant alone, independent of concrete material conditions. It is true that student who come from affluent communities with resourced and functional school stand far better chance of success that their counterparts who emerge from poor families and subjected to study in a poor school. This then follow that education is not a neutral phenomenon; it is either is designed to oppress people or to liberate people! In context of Eastern Cape for example education challenges are societal challenges which are structural, systematic (embedded in racial context), historic and through going it is well recorded the introduction of formal education and the heroic wars of colonisation resistance whom were fought for decades in this province and this was to have far reaching consequences of type of education which colonisers and missionaries were to introduce in this part of the world. It can be explained as to why overwhelming majority of worst performing schools in Eastern Cape in last year matric results were in rural areas that are under - developed with poor conditions. Statists are loud in that we have not been able to turn the tide in that class inequalities and class bias towards the middle classes continues to afflict our education system across the board. For instance apart from the fact that it is largely black middle class students who have accessed the better resourced former white schools, on 2014 outcomes, calculated against the cohort that started schooling 12 years notwithstanding objective constraints, below 15% qualify to apply for institution of higher learning. This is compounded by the fact that overwhelming majority of the learners who do achieve a matric exemption are children from the middle classes. Research show that probability of a black working class child achieving a university exemption is much less than 1%. This is indeed a deeply disturbing state of affairs. Just one in ten black pupils qualifies for university, compared with more than half of their white peers. Whites, who account for 9% of the population, gained 42% of the degrees awarded in 2007, almost exactly the same proportion as blacks, who are nearly ten times more numerous. Figures show that in "historically black" and previously disadvantages schools, which make up 80% of the country's 7000 secondary schools. Despite this large number, these schools produce only 15% of students who qualify for university. Of those who do get in, barely half end up with a degree. This amplifies the argument that education is an integral and intertwined struggle for economic freedom, in fact quality education is a necessary impetus for economic freedom, while economic freedom is reassurance for quality equation. In one view this education should seek to change the socio-economic conditions of the poor for the better. As it is education that can provide escape route out of poverty and promote diversified oneness and equality across racial, economic, cultural and gender lines. In the interest of African working class child and future of this country we must collectively ensure that a class takes greater responsibility for breaking new ground and reclaims leading role in education of its future and gravitate away from situation wherein education is made a football, where a blame game is thrown to and from by pressure or interest group. Our struggle in education sector must be that of arming the class, our struggle must that of people education for people power, therefore we must insists that we must ground ourselves in understanding of the relationship between the working class and the people if we to take forward the concept of education for class in class in divided society. We can only heed in Nelson Mandela words says "Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation". • Rune Mawethu is a member of the SACP EC 7th Congress Provincial Executive Committee and writes here on his personal capacity -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. 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