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Schooling: what Kenya’s history can teach South Africa

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Schooling: what Kenya’s history can teach South Africa

Brian Levy

“Weak governance” is a popular scapegoat for the poor results achieved by South Africa’s education system. And there is no doubt that many aspects of how the education bureaucracy operates are problematic.

But what about setting the scapegoats aside for a moment and seeking solutions? One way to do this is to look elsewhere for inspiration. So, in that spirit, consider Kenya. For much of the half-century since it became independent the East African nation had been an over-performer on the continent in its measured education outcomes.

To get a sense of Kenya’s historical overperformance, consider the 2007 results of standardised tests for sixth graders conducted by the Southern and East African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality. Kenya’s average score was 557 points. That’s well above South Africa’s average of 495 points. Kenyan children’s basic literacy and numeracy skills were stronger than South Africa’s.

Kenya has a much lower per capita income than South Africa. In part as a result, its public spending on education per pupil is only one-fifth that of South Africa. Its educational bureaucracy is relatively messy.

Despite all this, as the graph in a more extended discussion underscores, it has historically been an over-performer in southern and eastern Africa, both relative to South Africa and more broadly.

How did this happen? The answer lies with active civic engagement. Kenya’s first president of the independence era, Jomo Kenyatta, championed this in the form of a self-help ethos known as “Harambee” as the pathway to development, including a strong focus on educating the country’s citizenry. For years after his tenure as head of state ended, the principle remained deeply embedded in Kenyan society – and the country’s education system.

There could be valuable lessons here for South Africa. Kenyans believe that fixing education is not someone else’s task or someone else’s failure. It involves active citizenship and proactive engagement at all levels: public officials; principals, teachers and their unions; parents and communities.

Perhaps what South Africa needs now is not a top-down government policy of “education for all” – but rather, “all for education”.

Kenya’s history of Harambee

In an email exchange with me, Dr Ben Piper, a seasoned educational specialist and long-term resident in Nairobi, identified some key things that he finds remarkable in Kenya:

…[I]n rural Kenya there is an expectation for kids to learn and be able to have basic skills … Exam results are far more readily available than in other countries in the region. The ‘mean scores’ for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and its equivalent at secondary school are posted in every school and over time so that trends can be seen. Head teachers are held accountable; paraded around the community if they did well, or literally banned from school and kicked out if they did badly.

This sort of accountability and community involvement forms part of the “softer” dimensions of school governance. And the roots of this approach run deep. They were part of the foundational ideas that shaped modern Kenya.

Jomo Kenyatta was a powerful advocate for better quality education. His focus on education persisted during his activist days, through his years in the UK and in his role as director and principal of the Kenya African Teachers’ College, run by the independent schools movement.

He became independent Kenya’s first president in 1963 and immediately offered a vision of a nation imbued with Harambee (“let us pull together”). The country adopted the term as its official national motto. As numerous studies have underscored, engagement with education held pride of place within the Harambee movement.

Harnessing existing structures

The key to turning around South Africa’s education system may be to spend less time deciding who to blame and more seeking out renewed opportunities for engagement.

This wouldn’t involve reinventing the wheel. The country’s institutional framework for education, promulgated in 1996, creates multiple entry points for participation by a variety of stakeholders.

School governing bodies, which consist mostly of parents, can play a central role. These bodies are generally in the news for all the wrong reasons; as tools for elites to keep control of their schools, and as sites of corruption. Indeed, the South African government’s recent Basic Education Laws Amendment proposal, following an investigation of ‘jobs for cash’ scandals in schools, proposed scaling back the authority of school governing bodies.

But, as I’ve written elsewhere, research at school level also shows that school governing bodies can be a source of resilience, including in poor communities.

Perhaps the crucial lesson from Kenya’s history is that our current discourse has it backwards. Fixing education is not someone else’s task, and someone else’s failure. Active citizenship implies pro-active engagement at all levels – by public officials, by principals and teachers (and their unions), by parents and communities.

If South Africa is willing to learn from Kenya, what is called for now is not another top-down “education for all” target from government –- but rather “all for education”.

This article was first published on The Conversation Africa

Here’s why all parents should vote in the School Governing Body elections

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Here’s why all parents should vote in the School Governing Body elections

Thabo Mohlala

Thursday marked the start of the election of School Governing Body (SGBs) members across the country. Scheduled to take place until the end of March in over 25 000 schools, the elections take place after every three years.

Basic education minister Angie Motshekga assured the nation that all preparations were made to ensure the elections proceed smoothly. Briefing the Parliament Portfolio Committee for Basic Education on Wednesday on her department’s readiness, Motshekga said SGB elections were at the centre of the department and the provinces’ key priorities in terms of budget, planning and the allocation of both physical and human resources.

Why parents should get involved

SGBs are seen as the key component in the life of a school as they provide parents with a platform to get involved in how their schools are governed. They perform critical functions such as deciding on policies around school fees and uniform, language and religion, admission and code of conduct as well as the constitution.

Motshekga called on all parents to participate in the elections saying apart from democratically electing new leadership, they were also important levers that communities used to take ownership of their schools.

Motshekga said: “The performance of schools tends to improve when parents are actively involved and take an interest in the affairs of the schools.” She said it was important for parents to “turn up in their numbers” so the SGB could represent the school’s makeup adequately.

In February,  Western Cape education MEC, Debbie Schäffer urged parents in her province to vote “to ensure that the school serves the best interests of their children”. In Gauteng, MEC Panyaza Lesufi also appealed to parents to take part and added that SGBs encouraged parents and other school stakeholders to volunteer their services to schools.

Some thorny issues with SGBs 

In November 2017, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) provoked the ire of the SGBs when it published ‘Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill’ for public comment. SGBs across the board unanimously rejected the bill’s proposals saying they amounted to stripping them of their decision making powers in relation to learner admission, language and more crucially the appointment of staff.

But some parents complained about the lack of training to SGB members saying this limited their full participation in the affairs of the structure. They said some principals took advantage of their weakness and not only abused their powers but also mismanaged school finances.

SGB election procedure

Inside Education spoke to Cathy Callaghan, an executive member of Governors’ Alliance, one of the umbrella bodies of the SGBs. She shared her views in terms of the procedures and processes that should unfold for credible SGB elections to take place. She also encouraged parents to take part in the elections saying “functional SGBs means functional schools”.

Callaghan said SGB elections take place under the South African Schools Act No. 1996 (SASA) and they were elected in by the various stakeholders at the school with the intention to make schools the centre of the community. She said the office bearers of the elected SGB comprise chairperson, deputy-person, treasurer and secretary, adding that elected members are not paid for serving in the body.

Callaghan said, legally a public school had the capacity to perform its functions in terms of the SASA”, adding that SGBs also exercised a financial oversight on school funds that schools charge learners. She said people who qualified to be elected onto the SGB were parents of learners enrolled at the school, educators employed at the school, non-educators employed at the school and learners in the eighth grade or higher at the school.

Parents must ensure they appear on the Voters Roll, advised Callaghan, adding that they must also have an identity document for the purposes of both nomination and election. A parent who is eligible to vote must also ensure that he or she is not employed at the school, an un-rehabilitated insolvent, of unsound mind and convicted of any offence involving dishonesty.

Once all the requirements have been met, the process of nomination begins, said Callaghan. She said one of the first steps is for the principal to send out a notice to all parents they will then complete a Nomination Form ensuring the name of the nominee and the seconder appear on it.

Nominations are then dropped in the box the Electoral Officer will call for further nominations and after an allocated time will examine all the forms to ensure they comply with stipulated regulations.

DUT strike: So near, yet so far, but parties are upbeat they will sign

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DUT strike: So near, yet so far, but parties are upbeat they will sign

Thabo Mohlala

Durban University of Technology is on knife-edge as parties are under pressure to settle and bring to an end one of the longest labour disputes within the higher learning sector. Negotiations between unions and the DUT management collapsed several times but the mediation of the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, saw the parties committing to a new framework to break the impasse.

Manamela told the media this week his biggest concern was that “there were no negotiations at all” between the unions and the management, adding “the parties were not talking to each other”.

Khaya Xaba, spokesperson for the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), reacted with both caution and optimism. He said they welcome the resumption of talks with DUT but also hastened to say it was only when the employer implemented the agreement that the strike would officially end.  

“We have suspended the strike action until we get what we demanded from the employer. Our members have gone back to work to allow the negotiations to proceed and we hope we would find a middle ground and end the impasse soon. But we have not reached a point where we could say the strike has ended,” said Xaba.

Xaba’s cautious optimism seemed to be fuelled by some of the issues reflected in the framework that the parties agreed to as part of their negotiations. These include, among others, three sticking points: across the board salary increase, once-off bonuses and housing allowances.

But Xaba, said Nehawu members were happy and supported the new developments particularly to help catch up with the students’ registration backlog. The strike affected scores of students who could not register online because didn’t have access to Internet.

“The intervention was long overdue and it came at the right time. That is what we needed and we are also positive that CCMA is also involved in the talks,” added Xaba

The university offered to pay 6.5% salary increases against the unions’ demand of 8.5%; on the once-off bonus, DUT proposed R7,500 while the unions demanded R9,000. The unions also demanded a R400 housing allowance while the employer offered R200 and finally, the potential deal breaker: no work, no pay principle, which the university implemented and docked workers’ salaries will also be on the agenda.

DUT’s vice-chancellor, Professor Thandwa Mthembu told the media on Wednesday that the institution is stretched financially to meet the workers’ current list of demands. He said their 6.5% across the board offer, which labour rejected, will cost DUT R12 million and if they were to accede to the workers’ demands, the university would have to fork out R62 million, which would bankrupt the institution.

Observers credit Manamela’s successful mediation saying his major coup was to get the strike suspended and allow students to go back to classes. Classes will resume next week Monday.

Universities South Africa (USAf), which represents all 26 universities, was anxious about the prolonged dispute. It said if the deadlock was not broken soon, the institution was going to be compelled to close its 2018/19 academic programme given the time lost. No lectures have taken place since universities reopened at the beginning of February this year.

Mqondisi Duma, Provincial Secretary of the South Africa Students’ Organisation (Sasco) also sounded positive about the negotiations. “We are happy that in the end the parties are talking. Remember, in the past there were no talks between the workers and the management.

We are optimistic that they will find one another and settle soon. We appeal to them that no party should be selfish but they must think about the interests of all the stakeholders of the university particularly the students who lost a lot of time without studying,” said Duma.

Why education is expensive in South Africa

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Why education is expensive in South Africa

Siyabonga Hadebe

Education is very expensive in South Africa. It costs a whopping R19,500 to R21,500 a year to attend an average government fee-paying school. Private schools charge anything between R50,000 and R500,000 per annum for one child. No wonder the likes of Curro and Advtech make so much money.

But who owns these private companies that are now charged with the responsibility of providing basic education in South Africa?

You must understand that the least spoken about topic in politics is the “commodification” of knowledge production in developing countries like South Africa. Access to free, quality and universal education has gained prominence in recent years following student protests at universities. However, these protests were limited in nature because they lacked a deeper understanding of the economic framework governing education as a whole, from kindergarten to tertiary level.

Young people comprise a large percentage of the South African population of just over 52 million. A huge proportion of youth go to crèches, schools, TVETs and universities. Although many people receive education from public institutions, private education is preferred by the rich and middle classes. The basic education system in urban South Africa is now practically a “servitude” for private companies. The implication of this is that most school-going kids from families that can afford go to privately owned schools.

Private companies like Curro Group, Spark, AdvTech, Pembury Lifestyle Group, etc. dominate private sector education in South Africa. All these companies promise “to address the shortcomings facing public education.” Census data indicated that only an estimated 48% of students who begin Grade 1 actually complete Grade 12, with most learners dropping out of school in Grade 10 and 11.

The JSE-listed Curro Group has schools across all nine provinces. University of Stellenbosch’s economics professor Johan Fourie says “In the past four years, its share price has tripled.” The company posted its 2016 financial year end results in March 2017, which showed a 69% increase in headline earnings to R169 million – up from R100 million recorded in 2015. Revenue saw a 27% increase to R1.76 billion whereas annual profits increased by 83% to R162 million. On the other hand, AdvTech, owner of the Crawford College and Trinity House schools posted significant growth in the same period, namely a 24% increase in revenue to R3.4 billion, with total enrolments increasing by 13%.

The profits mean that other firms are starting to notice and are entering this lucrative market.  As a result, these firms actively target the poor and the working class, which indicates that the entire South African basic education system is getting privatised.

Coronation Fund Managers, CitiGroup, Old Mutual Group, Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) are listed as some of the largest shareholders of Advtech. Professor Jonathan Jansen, former principal of the University of Free State, serves on a predominantly white board.

The subject of knowledge generation and at times consumption are heavily contested. The one who produces knowledge demands to be paid for his or her “work” – knowledge therefore has become a commodity like minerals, sugar or rice.

With the advent of economic neoliberalism, where markets are kings, knowledge appears to be also traded in the same space as other commodities. But the issue of the volatility of commodity prices draws so much criticism due to the impact they have on social outcomes.

For example, agricultural products are actively traded spot and derivative markets with dire consequences. In spite of the fact that this piece is about education and knowledge creation, economic madness and quest for huge profits in agriculture will be used to introduce problems of “commodification” of education and how education is currently being privatised before our eyes for the benefit of the wealthy. Under the pretext of poor public sector education, which is also privatised by school governing bodies, the private education system grows at a faster pace, and thus leaving the majority of the population destitute and without hope.

Fluctuations in the value of agricultural products lead to uncontrollable increases in food prices and gnawing hunger in the world. Hence, food security is now a great concern for many countries, both developed and under developed. In 2011, Nikolas Sarkozy commented that the French G-20 presidency prioritised food security by suggesting the removal of land and food production from the hands of speculators, and the mean machine of global corporations. In the end, the world’s leading economies dismally “failed to take the decisions needed to avert a looming global food crisis.”

Food price volatility and soaring food commodity prices remain a sad occurrence in our lives. Furthermore, rich countries cushion their agriculture and ensure sustainable food production through various economic mechanisms like subsidies to farmers and other types of “market protectionist” policies. However, poor countries do not have such capacities – hunger is on the rise because food production and land ownership are mostly under the control of foreign capital.

Large corporations are more concerned about servicing international markets and are not interested in local markets. The global economic infrastructure consisting of the World Trade Organisation and the Bretton Woods Institutions (i.e. World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund) ensure that the status quo is maintained.

The conclusion of this article is that the expansion of private education in South Africa and beyond is not so much an outcome of “poor” public education but forces of free market economics are at play. Both Advtech and Curro are presently spreading their wings to other parts of the continent, from Botswana to Kenya.

Commodification of education in Africa and elsewhere encourages entry of private capital, and growth of subtle privatisation of this important public good. Already, private schools are self-regulating through the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) and this is why Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi expressed his frustrations by calling for a single examinations body in South Africa.

 

 

 

 

The case against free higher education: why it is neither just nor ethical

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The case against free higher education: why it is neither just nor ethical

Sean Archer

South Africa’s just-ousted Minister of Finance committed another R57 billion to higher education and training over the next three years. In his first (and last – he was removed from the portfolio less than a week later) budget speech, Malusi Gigaba followed through on former president Jacob Zuma’s controversial promise in December last year of fee-free higher education.

The minister’s announcement is likely to be well-received by those who have supported the demand by relatively small student groups that “Fees Must Fall”. Yet there is a major fault that is ignored by those who favour free higher education. It fails to provide a justification for increased allocation of resources to higher education on the grounds of equity or social justice.

There are persuasive arguments that free higher education will be unambiguously regressive. This is because it involves a transfer of resources from lower to higher income individuals within a national population.

This has been evident in certain other African and South American countries, as well as in Western Europe. Some countries do offer free tertiary education. Germany and Norway are current examples. But, first, they are rich in per capita income terms. And, second, “free” is ambiguous because it covers only selected components and not the full cost of this level of education.

Free higher education must be judged inherently regressive. It certainly will contribute to South Africa’s already high inequality by international standards.

From a social justice perspective

To understand the social justice dimensions of the question requires that attention be paid to the end of the process of higher education, the outcome, not the beginning when the focus is on costs and who bears them.

The bulk of graduates in every higher education system enter the labour force’s upper echelons. This places graduates well up in the top 10% to 15% brackets of the national distribution of earned income.

Most significant from a social justice perspective, university graduates receive considerably more income than the median taxpayer, or those within the median tax bracket, who inhabit the middle of the array of taxable income levels in every country.

This observation applies to direct taxation: personal income tax, company or corporate tax, wealth taxes and estate duty levied on individuals or corporate entities. But the regressive nature of the income transfer to university graduates is even more striking when attention is directed to indirect taxation. Examples include VAT, fuel levies, import and excise duties and a large set of user charges.

Indirect taxes are not levied directly on liable persons or their income generating entities like companies and corporations. Yet ultimately such taxes are paid by all consumers, irrespective of their levels of income, because they are paid by entities who are not individual consumers. This makes them regressive: everyone in South Africa will pay 15% VAT and a higher fuel levy from now on, in line with the 2018 budget speech.

Regressive transfers financed by the state – taking from taxpayers and giving to students in the form of free higher education – is the main reason why international examples of free higher education are so few and far between. That is why the international literature is generally sceptical – even hostile – to demands for free higher education.

One example widely cited is Australia where free higher education was decisively rejected in recent times. When a student loan scheme was under debate there about 20 years ago, the opponents of free higher education coined the slogan: Why should bus drivers pay for the education of lawyers? Why indeed? Today Australia possesses one of the world’s most successful national student loan schemes.

Social justice matters

In the real world of course, there are individual students who fall through the net and do not graduate. They miss out on becoming high-earning members of a national labour force. Consequently, a number of once enrolled students end up burdened by debt obtained while studying, either from private sector sources like banks or from the state under a tertiary education loan system.

But these individuals, together with entering higher education students from poor households who are eligible for subsidy from state sources in many countries, must be treated as personal cases. They are judged legitimate or not legitimate candidates for free higher education provided by government.

Each individual case has to be decided on its own merits. But when viewed as a group, usually small in number compared to total enrolment, they certainly do not constitute a justification for free higher education throughout a given national system.

Another issue that should be a serious concern is that fiscal authorities in a country short of revenue simply cut the allocation to post-school education – universities and technical and vocational colleges. This has been the case for many years in South Africa, and happens because universities and post-school colleges are not an important constituency in the competition for resources.

This has led to chronic underfunding, a fact which has not been recognised by “Fees Must Fall” and free education activists. This is highly likely to continue as a major problem in the future if higher education is held to be nominally “free” in publicly stated policy.

If there are circumstances specific to South African higher education which might justify a claim for more resources to be devoted to post-school education, then these circumstances must be explained upfront and in detail. Thus far no “Free Education Planning Groups” at universities appear to have done so.

Every university has a responsibility to clarify the values by which it functions. This is a responsibility to all its members, as well as to the concerned public outside. The neglect of social justice in South Africa’s ongoing free higher education debate is highly surprising. It is also undermining of the values that must be explicit in the public sector allocation of resources.
This article was first published on The Conversation Africa

 

Naledi Pandor asks the public to weigh in on improvements in higher education via Twitter

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Naledi Pandor asks the public to weigh in on improvements in higher education via Twitter

Bonile Khanyi

Newly appointed Minister of higher education and training Naledi Pandor posted a Twitter poll on Wednesday, asking South Africans which areas within the department they would like to see more changes.

At 1pm on Thursday, with just two hours left before the poll closed, 3046 people had participated. Most people wanted to see changes in skills development with 49% of the participants voting for changes in that area. 

The second-most voted for area for change, was the university sector with 23%. People who wanted to see changes in colleges made up 15% of those who took the poll while community education stood at 13%. 

Some people replied to the Minister’s poll and said they wanted to see changes in all the categories listed, while others reminded her not to forget about TVET colleges.

Some suggested the minister work together with the Department of Basic Education to ensure a high quality of education at primary level so learners could cope at tertiary level.

Meanwhile, some Twitter users commended her on her efforts to engage the public on a social media platform.

Pandor was appointed to the role of Higher Education and Training Minister on Monday after serving four years as the South African Minister of Science and Technology.

She was officially sworn in on Tuesday, replacing Hlengiwe Mkhize who was appointed to the position by former President Jacob Zuma on 17 October 2017.

South Africa’s reading crisis is a cognitive catastrophe

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South Africa’s reading crisis is a cognitive catastrophe

John Aitchison

When the late Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko published his seminal book, “I write what I like”, in 1978 it wasn’t about individual self-expression or even self-indulgence. It was a political statement with its origins in the work of Brazilian adult literacy activist Paulo Freire.

Freire identified the profound connection between reading, understanding the world and so being able to change it. Half a century after Biko was murdered by South Africa’s apartheid state, his country is no nearer being able to do this.

Instead, many of the country’s children are struggling to read at all. That’s according to the results of the international PIRLS 2016 literacy tests on nearly 13 000 South African school children. These showed that 78% of grade 4 children cannot read for meaning in any language. South Africa scored last of the 50 countries tested. Also worrying was that there were no signs of improvement over the last five years. In fact, in the case of the boys who were tested, the situation may have worsened.

A few weeks before these results were released, another study had found that 27% of children under five in the country suffer from stunting and that their brains are not developing as they should. Damage like this is largely irreversible. It leads to low school achievement and work productivity – and so to ongoing poverty.

These truly disadvantaged children are those of the poor; the 25% of South Africa’s population who live in extreme poverty. Given their dreadful circumstances, it might be understandable that 25% of children might not succeed in learning to read. But 78%? There has to be another explanation for that.

There are indeed reasons. They range from the absence of a reading culture among adult South Africans to the dearth of school libraries allied to the high cost of books and lastly to the low quality of training for teachers of reading.

No reading culture and bad teaching

Part of South Africa’s reading catastrophe is cultural. Most parents don’t read to their children many because they themselves are not literate and because there are very few cheap children’s books in African languages (and it must be remembered that English is a minority home language in South Africa).

But reading at home also doesn’t happen at the highest levels of middle class society and the new elite either. It’s treated as a lower order activity that’s uncool, nerdy and unpopular. And it’s not a spending priority. South Africans spend twice as much on chocolate each year than they do on books.

The situation doesn’t improve at school. Until provincial education departments ensure that every school has a simple library and that children have access to cheap suitable books in their own mother tongues, South Africa cannot be seen as serious about the teaching of reading.

Another problem lies with the fact that reading is taught badly. South Africa closed down its teacher training colleges between 1994 and 2000. This was done ostensibly to improve the quality of teacher education by making it the sole responsibility of universities. It backfired.

Previously, universities used to teach mainly high school teachers. Now they were expected to train foundation level teachers of the first three school grades. It was an area university’s education departments knew little about. They also inevitably incorporated only those training college educators who had postgraduate degrees. Sadly, these people generally had no great interest in the grunt work of teaching little children to read. So foundation level teacher training at universities is often a disaster.

There’s been some attempt to address this bungle. The latest of them is the Department of Higher Education and Training’s Primary Teacher Education project.

The teacher training curriculum is also problematic. Most teaching about reading instruction in South Africa’s universities is outdated. Faculties of education appear to have largely ignored modern scientific advances in understanding how reading happens.

What the science says

Over the last three decades, cognitive neuroscience has clarified and resolved a number of debates about reading. It has been proven beyond doubt that reading – becoming literate – alters the brain.

Learning the visual representation of language and the rules for matching sounds and letters develops new language processing possibilities. It reinforces and modifies certain fundamental abilities, such as verbal and visual memory and other crucial skills. It influences the pathways used by the brain for problem-solving.

Failing to learn to read is bad for the cognition necessary to function effectively in a modern society. The inability of South Africa to teach children to read, then, leads to another type of stunting: one that is as drastic as its physical counterpart.The ConversationThe country now has generations who have been cognitively stunted because of a massive failure in its culture and educational provision. All South Africans are implicated if they don’t do their utmost to help people learn to read.

John Aitchison, Professor Emeritus of Adult Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Naledi Pandor, a win for social justice and transformation

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Naledi Pandor, a win for social justice and transformation

Thabo Mohlala

Thoughtful activism is needed in order to transform the higher education sector. This is what University of Witwatersrand (Wits) Vice Chanclellor Adam Habib said when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Naledi Pandor as the new Minister of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Monday evening.

“Not only does she understand the higher education system very well, she is also committed to both transformation and other social justice goals like the advancement of women. If we are going to transform the system, we need her,” Habib told Inside Education.

The announcement came as a surprise to many. A statement was released by The Presidency on Monday that Ramaphosa was to reshuffle his cabinet. Pandor would replace Hlengiwe Mkhize who took over the department in October 2017 after the former President Jacob Zuma reshuffled Blade Nzimande.

Wits School of Education Professor Brahm Fleisch echoed Habib’s sentiments. He said Pandor is an experienced and respected politician and is familiar with current issues in the higher education sector, adding, he is confident Pandor will deliver on her portfolio. “I think Cyril did very well in appointing her in the position,” he said.

Pandor’s immediate task will be to ensure successful implementation of the fee-free higher education policy. In his 2018 Budget Speech, former Minister of Finance Malusi Gigaba allocated R324-billion expenditure for higher education over the next three years, including an additional R57-billion to fund all eligible students. Fleisch said the allocation of such resources to Pandor’s department would substantially change the higher education landscape.

There were others who were excited about the appointed. The Higher Education Transformation Network (HETN), a non-profit outfit catering for graduates and alumni from various higher and further education training institutions from across the country, said they looked forward to working with Pandor towards transforming the higher education sector.

The Network’s spokesperson Sibongile Malinga said they would like Pandor to continue with the programme of transforming the higher education sector. The Network also highlighted specific areas of concern including the low number of black PhD graduates in the country; and the low number of black professors employed in the sector.

“The pace of employment equity transformation in higher education workplaces need be increased; and the minister needs to ensure salary parity across race and gender is implemented,” said Malinga.

Pandor also has to ensure she raises the profile of TVET Colleges. Judge Jonathan Heher, who headed a Commission on free higher education, identified TVET Colleges as vital skills hubs that can cater for the growing number of youths who do not qualify to study at universities.

She also has to change the perception among industry experts who view the quality of qualifications from TVET Colleges as inferior with the result that most graduates struggle to find jobs.

Pandor served in the Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe’s administrations as the minister of education. This was before former President Jacob Zuma split the ministry into basic and higher education and training in 2009. The combination of her political experience in education policy planning and management and her array of qualifications in the fields of education and linguistics made her a shoo-in appointment.

Pandora holds a BA degree from University of Botswana and Swaziland and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of London. She went on to complete her second Master’s degree in Linguistics at the University of Stellenbosch in 1997, while serving as a member of parliament.

From 1995 to 1998 she served as the deputy chief whip of the ANC in the National Assembly. She then became the deputy chairperson of the National Council of Provinces in 1998, and as its chairperson from 1999 to 2004.

She was later appointed as Minister of Science and Technology and one of her greatest achievements was leading the bids for South Africa to host the Square Kilometre Array (the SKA), located in the vast expanse of the Northern Cape province. SKA is the largest radio telescope in the world, amongst a range of other cutting edge projects.

 

Teachers trained to curb the rise of HIV/AIDS in schools

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Teachers trained to curb the rise of HIV/AIDS in schools

Thabo Mohlala

Teacher unions have thrown their weight behind the Department of Basic Education (DBE)’s advocacy and training workshops to empower teachers on how best to teach HIV/AIDS in schools.

The workshops focus on the DBE’s revised national policy on HIV, STIs and TB for all learners, teachers, support staff and officials in all the Primary and Secondary Schools.

Cabinet approved the new policy last year, which is a sequel to a 1999 policy formulated to combat HIV and AIDS within the education sector. This led to the HIV and AIDS Life Skills Education Programme that was taught in school through Life Orientation since 2000.

According to the Right to Care statistics – a health outfit that offer workplace healthcare solutions – in 2016 nearly a third of all new HIV infections in South Africa occur in 15-24 year olds with adolescent girls being up to eight times more likely to be infected with the virus than their male counterparts. Majority of school children fall within this age bracket.

While HIV/AIDS organisations say incidences of the pandemic seem to be stabilising in the country, there are concerns about the rise in infections particularly among the school going children.

Alan Thompson, National Teachers Union (Natu)’s spokesperson said they welcome any initiative designed to assist and improve the lives of teachers. “We welcome the department’s efforts to help curb the increasing cases of HIV/AIDS within the education sector particularly among the learners. We have been encouraging our members to know their status by going for regular HIV/AIDS tests,” said Thompson.

South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu)’s Nomusa Cembi also concurred. “It is important to empower educators on how to teach and manage the virus among the learners. But we also feel it is necessary to involve parents in this because we believe education starts at home. Children come from diverse, cultural, religious and belief systems and parents may object to their children being taught about sex if they have not been involved,” said Cembi.

Minister of basic education, Angie Motshekga, said as key stakeholder, it was necessary for the DBE to come up with a credible to stem the spread of the virus within the school community.

Motsthekga said: “HIV and AIDS is no longer simply a health concern, but a developmental problem that affects the social, cultural, political and economic fabric of the nation. It therefore must be tackled within the context of the behavioural, economic, socio-cultural and environmental factors driving the epidemic.”

She said the virus has evolved over the decades and this necessitates a need for her department to revise its approach and strategies in the sector.

Motshekga said the revised HIV and TB policy seeks to adopt effective and innovative approaches on how to deal with HIV “as a core management issue and therefore making it the business of every official in the system”.

But it is not only learners who are vulnerable to the HIV and TB, teachers are also at risk. During the World Aids Day last year December, Inside Education carried a report of a study by Human Science Research Council (HSRC) titled: ‘The Health of Educators in Public Schools in South Africa 2016’ which showed that teachers, particularly female, are at the receiving end of the virus than their male colleagues.

The DBE will use Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services, said Motshekga, globally considered to be the most effective tools to stem new infections among the young people.

The department will also enlist the support of the Departments of Health and Social Services and other partners involved in the health sector to ensure the youth access the social welfare and health services offered as part of the programme.

Motshekga added: “We encourage all  educators, learners, officials and key stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the various components of the DBE HIV and TB Policy as that will enable them to effectively support its implementation on the ground.” She also urged parents and the community to take part in parental and community dialogues in their areas and engage in conversations with their children on sexual and reproductive health.

Motshekga said they will host provincial workshops with key stakeholders to explore ways in which both CSE and SRH services can be shared with learners, educators and support staff at schools.

 

Financial literacy should be taught in schools

Inside_Education
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Financial literacy should be taught in schools

Mduduzi Luthuli

I listened in on the radio as two women spoke about their financial woes. These women, both educated and both black professionals, spoke of the lack of financial literacy in the black community. Their stories were personal. One said she got her driver’s licence 12 years ago and has since driven 11 cars.

“They were beautiful cars,” she quipped, “and I could ‘afford’ them. But now when I look back at the R10 000 – R15 000 a month spent over the last 11 years, with nothing to show, I become extremely frustrated with myself,” she said.

She also spoke of her friend who drove her sweet small Polo.
“She would get promotions. We all grew up and moved into fancier rented spaces. She didn’t. We would say,’Haau friend just buy a car,’ move into a bigger house.”

“You know she would laugh and just say no. Now I’m on car number 11 and she just bought her first brand new but not fancy car.”
“She owns six properties.”

I know many stories like this one and this is why I believe financial education should be part of a coordinated national strategy. It should be taught in schools.

Many young people can be empowered and equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to take charge of their lives and build a more secure future for themselves and their families. More needs to be done and it starts by changing our education system.

Why Personal Finance Belongs in Schools

Learning about personal finance may be the most important subject you didn’t study in high school. In fact, financial literacy is as important as mathematics, science or language skills, the 3 pillars of our education system. Imagine finishing high school and already being in the habit of budgeting, saving regularly and spending wisely. By now, you would have thousands of rands invested and you would be more financially savvy making decisions that would positively contribute towards your future.

However, most of us have been forced to learn the hard way.
We have routinely used the over-draft banking facility offered by our banks; we have overspent on credit and have short-changed our retirement savings.

During my career, I’ve come to appreciate one fundamental truth and that’s Personal finance informs everything in your life. Without mastering this skill, you’re simply wasting your own time. A few wrong moves – such as a series of missed credit card payments or purchasing a house you can’t afford – can dramatically narrow your options and make it next-to-impossible to live the life you imagined. Financial literacy is also crucial for avoiding the marketing tricks and gotcha fees that banks and other lenders are notorious for charging less-than-savvy customers.

Financial literacy is a core life skill for participating in modern society. Children are growing up in an increasingly complex world where they will eventually need to take charge of their own financial future. As young adults learning to live independently they will need to know how to budget, make wise financial choices for everyday living and manage risks. Who’s teaching them to do this? Financial products and services vary widely and, in the case of credit, can be almost too easily accessible for many of today’s young people. At the same time, these products and services are becoming more complicated and the choices more difficult.

Adding to this complexity are economic and technological developments which have brought greater global connectedness and massive changes in communication and financial transactions, as well as in social interactions and consumer behaviour.

Parents also struggle with financial literacy

South Africans don’t understand the basics. Many adults, struggle with simple concepts like spending less than they earn. It is this shame, this crippling failure or lack of understanding of money management that continues to make this subject a taboo in so many homes. I believe that we can realise and recognise that parents haven’t done a very good job of teaching their children. Our rising debt levels help prove my point. This growing consumer debt reflects a laissez-faire attitude to borrowing, and with many adults failing to manage their money well, it’s hardly surprising that most kids don’t grasp the fundamentals of spending, saving and sharing.

We spend too much money we don’t have. Economists have been sounding the alarm about consumer debt for the last few years. It is also a recurring mantra from our finance ministry. We’re quick to judge the negligence of the state with regards to their finances yet many of us would be ashamed if our financial life was published on the front page of any newspaper. Forgive yourself for not knowing what you don’t know but this proves my point of why financial literacy should be taught in schools.

What can be done

One must first admit that there are significant barriers to overcome: lack of political will, lack of resources and materials, overcrowded curricula and insufficient expertise. There is no single recipe for success, but we need to start. Countries that have made the most progress have adopted the guidelines supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its International Network on Financial Education (INFE): Financial education in schools should be part of a co-ordinated national strategy.

Sadly, we are not one of the countries who have adopted to adopt their guidelines and I really don’t understand why. Our education system continues to become more archaic each year and we must question what we’re offering the world apart from natural resources. We should also be aware that we may not be able to form part of this 4th industrial revolution we always hear of.

The strategy proposed by the OECD says that a learning framework which sets out goals, learning outcomes, content, pedagogical approaches, resources and evaluation plans must be created and adhered to. The framework must be national and needs a sustainable source of funding which should be identified at the outset. The OECD also emphasises that financial education should start as early as possible, ideally from the beginning of formal schooling, and carry on until the end of the students’ time at school. Teachers should be adequately trained and resourced, made aware of the importance of financial literacy and relevant pedagogical methods, and they should receive continuous support and training to teach financial literacy.

A life without financial literacy is a regretful one

As a country, we’ve seen where a lack of personal finance education can lead. Millions of South Africans struggle every day with their money, living pay-cheque to pay-cheque and relying on credit cards for necessities. Beyond that, many South Africans are finding that they can’t buy homes, invest for retirement, or save for their child’s education because of their own personal debt, massive car payments, and general lack of financial planning.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A lot of the money problems South Africans face can be avoided if financial literacy was taught earlier, in school. That’s why I believe all schools should offer financial literacy courses as part of their graduation requirements. This should be made a human right.

Anyone who’s ever struggled with a difficult class in high school has asked the question, Will I ever actually use this stuff after I graduate? Financial literacy is very relevant to your current quality of life and the question to, “Will I ever actually use this stuff after I graduate,” is yes.

Handling money is a skill. Your quality of life will be highly dependent on using your money wisely, rich or poor. So why is it not being taught in schools? Why is it not a fundamental requirement for you to receive a pass in Matric?

Mduduzi Luthuli is an Investment Manager at Luthuli Capital, a Pan-African multi-specialist firm that offers an independent global approach to a wealth-management portfolio. He specialises in building Equity, Fixed Income and Balanced Portfolios.

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