Do the children of South Africa have a future?

Last week on THT I chatted to David Maynier. He updated our listeners to the plan from the Provincial Education department to reverse the educational losses caused by Covid-19. Which are substantial.

SA schools’ drop out rate

The Systemic tests revealed that Grade’s 3,6 and 9 could not obtain a pass grade in Mathematics and Reading. That’s a worry, considering the role those subjects play in career prospects. Youth unemployment is already unsustainably high, so these results also highlight what many experts have been alerting authorities to. Namely, socio-economic factors that can’t be ignored when looking to improve schooling outcomes.

Those risk factors also contribute to the unacceptably high drop out rate. Those learners will not be included in the BackOnTrack programme.

This is concerning: what will become of those children? How will they conduct their lives? Will they get pulled into gangsterism? Survive their childhood? Or be the exception and inspire others?

In an ‘education war room’

In a country crippled with structural inequality, opportunity is so key to possibly breaking the mould, shifting perception, and inspiring others. We have numerous examples in the past of how the lack of opportunity impacted individuals, and generations. That is South Africa’s key challenge. It continues to ripple through society; whether or not that ripple becomes a tsunami is up to us.

I have sympathy with education authorities as there is no silver bullet to stem the dropout rate. The BackonTrack programme does, however, provide an opportunity to address that by improving the learners skills. Already selected schools identified 126 000 learners, 8 980 teachers and 28 000 parents for the programme. All in addition to the 310 000 learners and 10000 teachers already participating in the Foundation Phase programme.

Fighting for the future

Minister Maynier told me that this will continue for the next 3 years. The hub of the BackonTrack programme – the monitoring and coordination – will be driving from an ‘education war room’. I like the language used by the Minister because it is that serious. We are fighting for the future of our country.

A close friend of my mom, who retired last year as district inspector, has been roped in to assist teachers with the curriculum. We need to be proactive and innovative. The Western Cape education department is the only education department that conducts these systemic tests, plus the department also has the ability to track the schooling lifespan of children. This gives the department key data to create interventions such the BackonTrack programme.

We all have a role to play so please do support their initiatives by encouraging and supporting children to strive for excellence at school. THT will have further discussions on this inititaitive to update you regarding progress and possible adaptations.