Dear Editor
Fellow Comrades
It is indeed imperative to defend and deepen our struggle for the working class
and the poor.
We read with deep interest the Article in the Sunday Newspaper,City Press page
26(02.10.2008) Viewpoint and Analysis,an article titled"ANC'S GOAL IS TO DUMP
EDUCATION ON PARENTS,PRIVATE SECTOR"written by the learned and honourable
Deputy Editor.
This article provoked a need to challenge the misconception of Polokwane
Resolutions on Education by the Deputy Editor.We wish to reflect on the
Resolutions as a point of reference.
Polokwane resolved that amongst others:
The no fee schools be expanded to 60% by 2009
Progressively introduce free education for the poor until undergraduate level
Norms and standards should be developed to classify schools,given the variation
of school types in provisioning
We must progressively expand the school nutrition programme to include high
schools learners in poorer communities
She continued to say"The ANC wants to extend no-fee schools.What a scam!
What a scam for Who?Our assertion says our rural masses and urban poor continue
to bear the brunt of high cost of living through the high prices of
food,petrol,electricity,transport and housing.
The call to extend the no-fee schools is purely to ensure no learner/student is
denied an opportunity to study on the basis of school fees because parents earn
low salaries and unemployed or retrenched.
Yes,it is nothing for capitalist children whose view is that education is for
the few.Our fundamental assertion is that education is the engine for personal
development.Government's role is to provide necessary milieu for all learners
as school fees were used asw restrictive measures by the private schools to
monopolize education.
She continued to depict a situation that "Comparing the pass rate of no-fee
schools to the grade of schools that charge fees results point otherwise"
My learned Editor should look at how she got educated.History tells us
resources were allocated on the basis of colonialism of a special type,which
will take years to redress and thus differentiation existed,which should not be
left unchallenged.
Quality,free public education for all is a goal that have been championed by
Unions such as SADTU for a long time.Did she provided space for engagement on
the unskewed resources allocation that former model -C schools enjoyed yeras
back?
Our take is that private schools continue to poach educators from public
schools and promise them good salaries.Many of these educators remain
unorganised and job security is rife in private schools.
She continued to say"People who come from outside catchment area,who claim they
can't afford the fees cannot be turned away"
Our assertion is that Education is a right enshrined in our Constitution.Why do
we deny our people that right?History always tells us that education is not
neutral but it is an ideology.
Development exclusivity and dispossesion aggravates and entrench colonial
oppresion,which we suffered and my learned Editor wants to promote it the City
Press,which is declared through its slogan"DISTINCTLY AFRICAN".
What a narrowist,minimalist approach for our people!!!!!
She continued to say"Why should they(people)go to extreme lengths to avoid
these (no fee)schools?
Parents have a right to chose where their children should study,why should we
allow freedom of choice to be narrowed by issues of exclusivity on the basis of
payment.What about derailment of development in our country and access to
skills provision by our Goverment?
The shallow view that the extension of no fee schools is one such play to win
votes by politicians is misinformed by the reality in our country.Many people
remain marginalized and the struggle to enhance massive education starts with
provision of free education for all.
She continued to say"The school my children go to has 23 teachers,only 12 of
those are on the Departmental payroll.The rest are paid by parents,who know
that the best education happens in small classes"
The views suggest that our learned Editor,are people who continue to promote
private education features of exclusivity,lack of job security and poor
salaries to workers.Our freedom to choose the schools we want was not free.It
was a fought for struggle for many years.
For interest sake,Do your beloved school pay for the educator's pension fund
and medical aid,which we believe not.How on earth can we have educators dying
without medical provision because provate schools do not provide or do not care
through the monies you pay?
You must put on your labour rights spectacles on this matter because you
say:Every year the fees go up in order to cover the costs"
We hope you were not a spectator during the public service strike,which saw
workres demanding a living wage also in the school where your children attend.
FOOD,PETROL,ELECTRICITY,HOUSING continues to rise but salaries remain low and
maybe you afford because you are well paid and living large.But the majority
are poor.
She continued to say"These children carry the latest cellphone models.They
bring at R20 pocket money every day.They wear expensive clothes"
But when it comes to school ffes,their parents claim not to be able to afford
them"
My learned Editor must agree that our young people are facing many challenges
around materialism,influence of technological apparatus,which we cannot do away
with.Our world,South Afric in particular,is not an exception.
We achnowlegde the good parenting you provide but is proper to offer free
lessons to other parents on how you achieve that for our majority poor.But we
suspect your kids have a cellphones?What do you offer them as incentives for
doing well?
Maybe you are the few who take children to holidays in Mauritius and Bahamas of
this world,which is good but how many can afford?
Good of you as a parent who teaches how to prioritise!!!!
She continued to say"They(Parents)swim against a tide of mosquitoes that are
very happy to suckthe blood from the rest of us"
This view should not be left unchalleged.Our Goverment through its policies
always strove to better the lives of its people including yourself.
Why do we equate people to mosquitoes?
True generosity consists precisely of fighting to destroy the causes of few
people benefitting and maximizing access to education for all.
The shadow of the oppressors is still cast over our beloved Editor on calling
our people mosquitoes.This assertion is misguided.She continued to say "No-fee
school is just a cynical play to abslove the Goverment of providing education
for the nation,and to dump that burden on parents and private sector"
Young people must challenge this view.Workers continue to be paid peanuts but
CEO's and the Gorvenor live large and maybe the learned Editor,what about the
majority poor???
Education will always remain an engine for personal development and we cannot
conduct education in isolation to politics.Our revolutionary challenge is to
continue to stimulate thought and combat the prejudices that to this day still
persist among the masses.
The key diagnostic offering to our dear editor is the continued proposition of
having the illusions of acting through actions of the oppressors,who
unfortunately ceazed to exist with the dawn the 2004 breakthrough.The editor
should read "Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paul Freire to polish her
understanding of how education should be managed.
Poverty,inequality,unemployment remains the key challenges for our country.A
commitment to care for all who are weak and disadvantaged,the poor,downtrodden
should be Government priority through policies such as no-fee schools
It is not yet UHURU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mampane Norman
(POPCRU National Educator writing in his personal capacity)
Cell:0720737959
Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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