In the past few months education struggles have become the focus of the Bophelong community. The community joins many other communities and organisations in Gauteng and other parts of the country in taking the struggle for free quality education for all. In Bophelong these struggles are being led by a Concerned Learners’ Committee (CLC) with membership drawn from two high schools. The CLC is a structure that works inside schools around concerns of learners such as the school fees, feeding schemes, shortage of textbooks and the roles and functions of school governing bodies.
The CLC is an alternative structure to the docile Representative Council of Learners (RCL). RCLs have failed to champion the demands of learners and defend their interests. Instead the RCL has allowed itself to be used by school administration to oppress and pressurise poor learners to for instance, buy uniforms and pay school fees. Poor learners are locked out of school gates by members of RCLs for not paying school fees or wearing a school uniform. Members of the CLC continue to be subject to daily harassment and intimidation by principals and educators for daring to take ‘school matters’ outside the schoolyard.
Unlike average RCLs the CLC begins with an understanding of simple facts, such as that schooling is only one instance of community life. This means that the problems of schooling cannot be considered and resolved in isolation of those of the community as a whole. There are many problems that the community of Bophelong is faced with, including rampant unemployment, inadequate provision of social services, and the continued perversions of apartheid polices of unequal development of largely Black and poor communities compared to largely White affluent communities.
The increasing trend towards pre-paid education is the most undemocratic practice of neo-liberal commodification of our lives; it is a vicious attack
on the poor of this country. Parents are forced to pay school fees at the banks before they can register their children at a school. As a result sharks – trapping them in a cycle of debt. In 1994 our parents voted for a dream of free education but this has turned out to be a nightmare of pre-paid education. Today, bureaucrats are arrogant enough to tell crowds of people that Free Education is a mere rumour.
Since the beginning of the 2004, hundreds of learners have been denied access to stationery and textbooks for failing to pay school fees, feeding scheme programmes are run only in primary schools even though everyone knows that all children need food and hundreds of learners continue to be locked out of school premises for not wearing school uniforms. The CLC facilitated several public community meetings where parents and learners could discuss these issues. This proved a good idea as parents and learners could speak openly about the fact that schools were just simply not taking seriously the fact that most people cannot afford to pay school fees or buy uniforms.
In order to strengthen its campaign for the right to free quality education for all, the CLC has made links with many community organisations and individuals that believe the issue of education is important and urgent. This link became useful at the beginning of this year when the CLC organised a massive march to the local office of department of education. The march was attended by learners, parents and other members of the community.
The demands of the march included: that the principals and educators of Tsolo and Sapphire high schools immediately stop intimidating learners for participating in the activities of the CLC; that the right of learners to give and receive information be respected within the school premises; and that the CLC has the right and obligation to raise the issue of school fees, corporal punishment or uniforms in and outside of school forums; and the scrapping of school fees.
We say no to individual school fees exemptions. We say yes to school fees exemptions for everyone. We say forward to free quality and public education for all.
Compiled by members of the concerned Learners committee of the Vaal\ Sedibeng region
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