ISSUES AT STAKE: Dropping vital subjects will have negative consequences for youths

There is a growing, yet inexplicable, tendency of shutting down mathematics and accounting in a number of public schools, especially those serving rural communities around our region.

It is common knowledge that certain careers require these two subjects as minimum entry requirements to universities.

A learner, for example, who wants to pursue a career in medicine, will not be accepted at a university without having excelled in mathematics at high school.

When our eyes finally open to the current destruction of two very crucial subjects, a whole generation will be without a future and with no achievements to write home about.

Why the ‘culling’ of the two difficult subjects?

Could it be blamed on the demand for good results in schools?

What role can School Governing Bodies (SGBs) play to stop this insanity from continuing?

Are there people being shielded by the removal of the two subjects?

It is common knowledge that many SGB members lack the requisite knowledge to understand their role in the schools they govern.

It cannot be expected of them to function in terms of the South African Schools Act and properly look after the best interests of learners.

I firmly believe that many of them are unaware of what is happening in the very schools they are supposed to govern.

The motivation behind the removal of the two subjects is the failure of some educators to adequately teach them and achieve good results.

The Department of Education, as the employer, is empowered in terms of the Employment of Educators Act to deal with under-performance.

There have to be consequences for failure to do so, meaning the Department of Education itself will be guilty of dereliction if it does not address the problem.

It is an undisputed fact that the two subjects are ‘feared’ as being difficult by learners, specifically those who have completed their senior phase.

Another is how learners are made to choose which stream to pursue in the FET phase by some schools, which shows a lack of interest in giving the two subjects much-needed attention.

It is not difficult to see what causes this unfortunate removal, other than a shortage of qualified educators.

Failure to implement the Basic Education Department sections that deal with the relevant issues is responsible for the situation.

SGBs must be empowered enough to understand their responsibilities, and must not be ‘dribbled’ into not detecting what destroys the future of children in schools.