Many did not Survive ten years of ANC Education Policy

Brian Ramadiro* argues that 10 years after legal apartheid the ANC government has failed to live up to a better life for all in education.

SCHOOLING

Two challenges remain unresolved in our schooling system ten years after apartheid. The first challenge has to do with the government’s almost complete failure to ensure that all children, whatever their colour simply closing down schools in the ghetto and ferrying children to better-resourced schools in suburbs, or shutting down schools in suburbs and ferrying children to now better-resourced schools in ghettos, or even by establishing schools in new educational zones.

Neglect of this issue has meant that most children continue to live in “Coloured” townships and go to “Coloured” schools, in Indian townships and go to “Indian Schools” and “African” townships and go to “African” schools. No serious activist can therefore afford to underestimate or ignore the danger that racial and ethnic consciousness continues to pose to the unity of the working class and poor.

The second challenge has to do with the adoption by government of the World Bank gospel those basic social services like the working class instead of the state must pay for education. The effect of user-fees in education has been quite dramatic. Besides ensuring that “White” schools remain “White”, user fees have also made it difficult for the poor to go to their own schools.

The relatively high enrolment figures at primary school level are not the whole story: many children are forced to leave school before year end because they cannot afford to pay fees. Those who manage to stay in school confront overcrowded classrooms and schools without electricity or libraries. Hundreds of thousands of these children never sit for the matriculation examination and when they do many do poorly.

Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET)

ABET currently receives less than 1% of the national education budget. This in a country where an estimated 10 million people can benefit from ABET. There are indications that the provision of ABET might actually be decreasing with Public Adult Learning Centres continuing to be shut down.

Too often, whatever little ABET is provided is not the kind that makes learners think critically about themselves and their society, nor does

it provide the space for learners to conceive of alternatives to capitalism. Ironically, because of an almost total lack of provision in this area, the new social movements can play an important practical and ideological role in reviving popular adult education.

Early Childhood Development (ECD)

30% of preschools or crèches get any form of financial support from the state and virtually all have to survive by a combination of fees, private donor funding and by paying very low wages to practitioners who actually subsidise operational costs. Such a situation is understandably not conducive to making improvements in the quality of the service offered by pre-schools.

Higher Education

Every year more learners matriculate or leave school than can be absorbed by the labour market or higher education. The steady increase in the number of socially excluded young people and the complete failure to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic are stark reminders of the hollowness of promises of a better life for all especially during election season.

Those who get into higher education from working class and poor families are immediately faced with a triple struggle. First, of overcoming at least twelve years of poor education in order to make it in higher education. Second, the ever- present thought and schemes of how to raise money for next academic year ’s tuition fees. Third, dealing with the pressure to conform to capitalist values that say to be a complete person one must consume this or that brand of clothing, whilst the system itself puts all these products out of reach of most working class youth.

This bold intrusion of the market into education is beginning to have a significant impact on choices of academic programmes that young people pursue. Many more young people are taking commerce and science programmes because they are told this will put them in good stead for jobs. More important, we are finding that institutions of higher learning may produce technically competent people but who are not committed to building their communities, do not have a strong sense of political and social justice and cannot speak truth to power when the situation calls upon them to do so.

*Brian Ramadiro is an activist in the social movements and works for Education Rights Project (ERP) at Wits Education Policy unit in