Youth Day a Success?

This morning I bathed, ate, and hurried of to school. On my way, I wondered where all the learners were. Normally, I'm surrounded by a thousand children every morning but this morning there were none. I asked the principal, "Why aren't there learners today?"

He replied that the teachers are busy doing schedules (ie, marking exams from last week and reporting the scores) and can not be in the classrooms. Because the teachers cannot be in the classrooms, the learners don't want to come to school (or is it that teachers don't want to deal with them this week?). Plus there isn't school lunch this week, so learners don't want to come when they aren't fed.

Despite the conditions at that school, another of my school is feeding their learners this week and expects them to be there. There may not be much teaching going on, but the teachers keep the learners busy, grade papers, and record marks all at the same time.

Last Friday was Youth Day, commerating the youth up-risings on June 16, 1976 across South Africa. The children protested against the use of Afrikaans in schools (which many of the educators and learners did not speak) and the educational gap between the schools that the white children go to and that the black children attend. The police told the learners to disperse, but they did not. The police fired tear gas into the crowd as children threw rocks. Then a shot fired. And another. Officially 23 children died others estimated that 200 children died. A full history

My teachers are proud of Youth Day. They should be. Regardless, they are part of a system that that is just as bad as the conditions of 30 years ago. The South Africa Human Rights Commision released a report a few days before the 30th anniversary of Youth Day detailing how there are still two systems of education in South Africa: one of the former white-only schools in cities and affluent suburbs (former model C schools) and one for rural or township schools in poor communities for the majority of students. The schools in rural communities (like the ones that Peace Corps Volunteers are working with) experience high levels of violence (mostly corporal punishment and sexual abuse of female learners), learners have difficulty understanding the language of instruction, low levels of community involvement (because schools are viewed as autocratic and alienating by community members), and that educator moral is low, many are underqualified and underperforming. Poverty is a hinderance, but with all of these other problems it cannot be an excuse. Full Report

So where does this leave the schools? I told my principal that I want the schools that I work with to be as good as former model C schools. He didn't think that it's possible. He's right, it's not possible tomorrow. But if all of the teachers actively make little changes every day those changes would add up. Yes be proud of Youth Day, but realize that the fight for good education is not over.