DA, 25 June 2014 SADTU Must Allow Our Young People to Honour Their Past, but Own Their Future The DA notes the call by the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) for the subject of History to be rewritten to ensure that it is "relevant", and for it to be made a compulsory subject to be carried through to matric. SADTU's lobbying for the reconfiguration of our curriculum has the potential to turn the subject of History into a political, ideological instrument. It was used as just such an instrument during the years of Apartheid. The National Party ensured that the history syllabus covered history that was "relevant" to its political, ideological agenda. This history should not be allowed to repeat itself. Notwithstanding the fact that the call comes from a politically-aligned entity, with a declared goal of driving socialism within our schools, the Democratic Alliance believes that, just as should occur with every legitimate lobby for change, the union's concerns should be seriously received and entertained by Minister Angie Motshekga. SADTU must realise, however, that once the Minister has received their proposal, the matter must be managed by her, and not by the union. We call on the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, to be thoroughly transparent in her handling of the matter, and, if she considers the demand, to engage in extensive public and expert consultation before making any decisions. It is important to note, from the outset, that the DA cannot support history being compulsory through to matric. This runs counter to the principle of choice which should be available to every child, based on their skills and their aspirations. We understand the need to understand and acknowledge our past. We acknowledge its role in forming our present. What we want, however, is that, while young people should be given every opportunity to honour their past, they must, even more so, be provided with support to allow them to own their future. Annette Lovemore, Shadow Minister of Basic Education From: http://allafrica.com/stories/201406251130.html -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
