Now that the dust has settled and our vision for the future is not so marred, we can concentrate on the issue that was common in every political party’s manifesto – education.
All of us know that education is the key to almost everything in our modern society.
Ranging from the health of the individual to their employability, education is king. Academics and educators tell us that early childhood development in the formative years is the most important of all the school years.
In other words, pre-schooling and the first five years of school can help determine an individual’s employability for the rest of their lives.
My mother ran a pre-primary school for 40 years and she was firmly of the view that a solid grounding of any child below the age of 7 would determine, to a large degree, the child’s future. Obviously, continued schooling and education cemented their employability, regardless of their background.
There is a big debate on whether it is “nature or nurture” that shapes a person. Nature we can’t determine but nurture is in our hands.
It is vital that any government that provides 95% of our schooling must do the hard work to ensure that our citizens will be fit for purpose for their future careers.
For almost 30 years, we’ve had a lot of mismanagement of all state resources, including the destruction of our education system. It will take years to reconstruct the education system and many more years to ensure that every child has access to “nurture”.
It doesn’t help to legislate employment equity if most of our citizens can’t access decent education. In other words, we have a long journey ahead.
There are no easy and quick fixes to improve our employability. We have the potential and we have the tools to do what is necessary.
Other issues also need to be tackled. In this vein, I want to outline an anecdotal story close to my heart.
My wife, Patsy, went to volunteer to help a small group called Shine. The group was set up to read to the first few grades of some inner-city schools. Many children are affected by apartheid spatial structures.
The children sometimes leave home at 5am as their parents need to be at work and there is no one at home to look after them. The children arrive at school and instead of doing nothing, a group of individuals read to the children to enhance their education.
Patsy, in reading to some children, found they could neither concentrate nor sit still. After a cursory enquiry, it became clear to many of the volunteers that the children were hungry. A hungry child cannot concentrate.
The obvious thing to do was to bring something for that child to eat during the reading session. The obvious solution was unacceptable because it would mean that some children would be better off than others.
After short discussions, it was agreed to introduce a feeding scheme for the whole school. After much hard work and dedication, with the help of a British donor, The “Breakfast Club” was born.
Immediate results showed better concentration and a chance for a solid education. The Breakfast Club is now entrenched in two schools in the inner city of Cape Town.
My prediction is that the recipients of the nutritional breakfast will become the future captains of commerce and industry in South Africa.
The Breakfast Club has one other benefit. Some volunteers, who help make breakfast and wash up afterwards are unemployed adults who receive a daily stipend – sometimes the only money they received for the month.
The volunteers are dedicated individuals who ensure the learners are well fed and happy. They take enormous pride in ensuring that everything goes according to plan for each one of the more than 500 children.
Older learners have been trained to assist and have taken on the wonderful task of assisting those in younger classes. The children are learning the skills of leadership and responsibility. These skills are invaluable for development.
* Michael Bagraim.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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