Basic Education in South Africa is in a crisis and with that, I am not saying that there should not be programmes specifically aimed at children from poor households which ensure the improvement of basic education, Dr. Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus chairperson of the FF Plus, said.
Dr. Groenewald said during the debate in Parliament on the programmes aimed at improving basic education for poor children that there is enough money of taxpayers to ensure that every child in South Africa could and should receive basic education.
“And then I ask myself the question why there are so many school children absent from classes during school time and walking around outside. We can put as much money into programmes to say that children should be at school, but it also has to do with an educational task.
“An educational task that starts with the parents, with the community. Because there are possibly too many parents, who think that the educational task rests with the school and with teachers. My plea, therefore, is that we start focussing on the real problems of basic education. And the real problem is the quality of education. Statistics at the end of the day show that there are very few children who complete their university training to obtain their qualifications in order to make a contribution to the South African economy.
“And that is also why the economy is the in the state it is in because we get people who say they are qualified to do the job, but employees are experiencing something different in practice. The quality of basic education should urgently be looked at.
“If we talk about children, we should ask ourselves what the level of absenteeism of teachers is. How much time do they spend in the classroom, how much of the work that they are supposed to be doing are they doing in the classroom or is it a convenient excuse to shower the children with homework, because teachers are not doing their job? There are excellent teachers and principals in SA, but in this debate and this Parliament, close attention will have to be given to the quality and actions of teachers.
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