The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, has officially announced the 2016 matric results. The Class of 2016 has done us proud. Gauteng West (known as West Rand to many) has also done very well.
That said, many students who are able and capable will join the queue of the unemployed. High fees at the higher learning institutions bar many from furthering their studies. And this will continue for many years to come. But I digress.
Government pumps a lot of money into education. Yet our education is not rated amongst the best in the world. It’s even rated lower than that of countries that have far smaller Growth Development Products than ours.
This shows that throwing money at the problem is not a solution.
The problem is that government is concerned about quantity (numbers) and not quality. That results in our education being of inferior quality.
Hence we don’t innovate and invent new things. That means we’ll continue relying on other countries for solutions.
In addition to the above: Our education system doesn’t prepare learners for the job market and entrepreneurship. Our economy is ailing and needs a serious boost. And entrepreneurship is part of the answer. Yet we are producing fewer entrepreneurs.
The pertinent question is: Are we bankrupt of ideas on how to solve our education problems? The answer is a resounding ‘No’. The government is not willing to listen to anyone, particularly experts. It seems to enjoy hearing its own voice. In essence, there is no political will to solve the challenges we face in education.
But this is nothing new. During the apartheid era, our education system favoured the minority, rather than the majority people of this country. Black people had inferior education and few attended university. We continue to suffer the consequences of that even today.
Interestingly, that same inferior education (during apartheid) produced great leaders such as Robert Sobukwe, Nelson Mandela, and Zephania Mothupeng, to mention but three. There is no reason why it cannot produce more great leaders in our democracy.
I know it offends many when we compare our education to that of the apartheid era, and understandably so. Apartheid was a diabolical system that hurt blacks badly. However, apartheid forms part of our history. So we cannot run away from it. And we’ll keep making reference to it.
That said, learners will have to make the most out of our education, even if it’s not rated amongst the best in the world. They will have to use it to better their lives and provide solutions to the country’s problems. There is no other way.
