Utopian South African Eduacation System

Utopian South African Education System
The goal of this essay is to write up a utopian education system for South Africa. In doing so this paper will attempt to explain what the authors’ definition of an education system and the difficulties facing the South African education system. The author will also explain his utopian thinking of solutions and/or turnaround strategies.
An education system is a national system run by the government, paid for by tax payers to educate the children of the given country. Education means to teach the children of the country skills, social conventions and literacy pertaining to that specific country. By applying these three concepts, the education system of a country attempts to make better citizens out of the youth and make them valuable contributors to society. A better educated society leads to people living a better life in terms of prosperity, better governance and a better democracy, where all citizens can make effective and efficient choices about the government that runs the country.
It is no secret that the current education system in South Africa is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand there is the haves (the traditional Model C schools) and the have not’s (the former DET schools). The South African education system is failing to make the grade according to certain key indicators. It is reported that South African learners score poorly in reading, maths and science literacy. South Africa is constantly placed in the bottom six in the world and is one of the worst performing countries in Africa. The disparity however lies in the fact that in a 2001 study 65% of learners from former model C schools saw appropriate 6th grade scores, whereas in former DET schools only 0.1% scored the appropriate marks for 6th grade maths, science and reading (Bloch, 2007).
In South Africa almost 50% of learners that start grade 1 never finish grade 12 (Bloch, 2007). The current education system lets learners down in that the system brings learners hopes and dreams to a halt instead of encouraging them to reach their full potential. Many township schools have been described as sinkholes where children are ‘warehoused’, instead of being educated.
In saying all this, the biggest thing that summarizes the current education problem is quality. This lack of quality education disadvantages the already disadvantaged learners in that these learners can’t access tertiary education institutions enabling them to pursuit a better life (Bloch, 2007). It is the opinion of this author that the majority of these quality issues arrived due to bureaucratic measures that leaves the teacher out in the cold and causes teachers to do more paperwork than actually preparing classes and bettering themselves as teachers. There is very little micro-level input from teachers, frustrating teachers and in a way causing the teachers to feel like outsiders in the very system that they want to help improve. The current outcomes based education (OBE) is not suited to South Africa as it is a very resource and skill intensive curriculum that negatively affects the education system and the learners that it is suppose to be helping. The problem with OBE is that the resources and skills necessary to make it successful are only limited to very good teachers and schools that have the resources to make OBE successful, resources such as computers, internet and learners that can buy supplies necessary for various school projects. All of the above mentioned skills and resources are thus located in a small amount if schools and only serves a small portion of the population, namely the middle class and the upper class. The rest of the learners in township schools are thus at a significant disadvantage in terms of learning and bettering their lives in the present school system.
With this lack of resources and skills, poor infrastructure is also present. There are many schools in South Africa with inadequate or broken facilities. This also include oversized classroom sizes with some schools that have over 40 learners in a classroom and other schools that have 2 or 3 grades in the same classroom. This leads to disruptive classrooms and learners not getting enough attention and learners fall behind very easily. This backlog is thus never ever caught up and the learner just falls further and further behind, frustrating the learner and setting the precedent for the learner to drop out and to be at best an unskilled worker.
All this leads to the illusion that South Africa has 3 different school systems. On the one hand there are the former model C schools and independent private schools, which are well resourced, have great teachers and small classes where learners can really excel and are better prepared for tertiary education. In contrast there are rural and township schools that are poorly resourced have overworked and underpaid teachers and normally have really big classes. These schools are also very rife with mismanagement and corruption and nepotism is rife. This big contrast is clearly visible in standardised tests where rural and township schools score substantially lower than the former model C schools. This leads to low matric exemption results and high dropout rates. This traps these learners in a cycle of hopelessness causing learners to be trapped in a cycle of poverty.
After all these problems listed above South Africa give up and just keep going about like we are until the system implodes and there are wide scale rioting and chaos on the streets. There are some things that need to change in order for South African learners to prosper. If we get the education system right then most of South Africa’s ills will not necessarily disappear, but it will lessen these ills. It will also grow South Africa’s economy, thus enriching the lives of all her citizens.
Firstly a good place to start will be to look at centres of excellence. The department of education should look at rural and township schools. Because most poor schools have virtually the same problem, a look at schools that have risen above these problems could be a helpful start.
Secondly the department education has to start attracting young university graduates that are specialists in their fields of study. Having chemistry teachers that did a chemistry degree at university and then paying these students to further their studies to honours or masters level. By doing this the teacher is able to each the learners so much more than just basic chemistry and can truly challenge the students. By having well trained teachers the students will automatically be challenged more and thus be more determined to excel. Teachers should be selected out of a graduate teacher pool to any school anywhere in the country. This ensures that all schools get the same kind of teachers, namely well educated and inspirational teachers. This means that a school in Mtahtha have the same quality teacher as a school in a rich neighbourhood in Pretoria. This means equal education for all and that there are no rich schools or poor schools, only centres of excellence.
Reduce the time teachers have to stand in front of the classroom and teach. This will enable teachers to focus on course planning, learner support and personal professional development. This greatly enhances the learners’ experience of school as the teacher are now more energetic and can better give class, due to less stress and fatigue. By also having more time the teachers can attend workshops and other short courses in order to better themselves as teachers and this will enhance their students learning experience and will also improve the teachers’ self-worth.

South Africa as a society needs to start being more appreciative of teachers and thus elevate their social status, to say that of doctors and lawyers. This will greatly enhance the image of teaching, making it more attractive to young people to become teachers. Children should be inspired to become teachers like they are inspired to dream to become lawyers. Elevating teachers’ position in society does exactly that and this is important, because without teachers there would be no astronauts, engineers, doctors or lawyers as these children would never have been educated.
Another thing that has to change is the department of education. The whole administration in South Africa needs to change. The departments’ posts needs to be filled with teachers only, even the minister of education should be teachers with more than 20 years spend in the school environment, either as a teacher or school administrator. By having teachers running the education department, the teachers will work to make their fellow colleagues jobs easier and to improve their learners, as teachers are by their very nature caring humans and only want the best for their learners. The government should also decentralise the whole school system, making local communities responsible for their children’s education. The local community will ensure that their children get the best education possible as they are more concerned with their children’s welfare than the national department. Communities can also be involved with the planning and building of the school as it will create jobs and make the community more appreciative of the school.
The curriculum also needs to change as it too inflexible at the moment. There is no room for creativity from the teachers’ side. Teacher tend to know their learners better than anybody, in some cases even better than the learners own parents, in terms of academic capabilities. The national department of education must set out curriculum guidelines not more than say 10 pages for what is expected for each subject, especially maths and science at the end of each school year. This gives teachers flexibility in terms of what they can teach when and how they can teach it.

In the early years of school, say for the first couple of years of school between, especially primary school the focus of learning should be to play. By playing and being children kids learn a lot more effectively and efficiently. Class periods should not be long and there should be ample break time. Keeping the children occupied and their brains busy ensure that the learners learn and not get bored. Homework should be kept at a bare minimum as this infringes on their playtime. All work should be done in class and if children struggle there should be teacher assistants or teacher to help the children with subjects and/or problems that they have with work.
There should be elaborate feeding schemes in our schools where children are fed good, healthy, nutritious meals as there are many kids who don’t get food before they go to school, as there is simply no money for food. Every school should have dining facilities that can accommodate the learners during breakfast and lunch. This will ensure that learners can concentrate during class and it will also cause learners to be less disruptive in class, as hungry kids are irritated and unruly kids.
As mentioned above facilities need to be upgraded and in some cases rebuilt. Schools should be places where children want to go. It should not be depressing and run down. Classrooms need to be bright and friendly, inviting the learners to class and make them feel welcome and safe. The teacher to learner ratio should not be more than 1:25 and science classes should not have more than 16 learners at a time, enabling students to do practical work in science and thus enriching their learning experience. Schools should have science laboratories and interactive whiteboards. There should also be computer rooms at schools where learners can use computers for homework, research or just learn how to use a computer effectively and efficiently. This will give South African children a better start in the high tech world outside of the classroom. There should be no mud schools or classes given under trees in South Africa.
I also feel that in the first 3 or 4 years of school, teachers should stay with the same class as this enables the teacher to really know their children and by having the same face giving learners a bit more difficult work it will sit well with the learners as they know and trust the teacher. The teachers also know the learners very well by now and he/she would know exactly how to get the most of their learners. By keeping one facet of a child’s learning constant, i.e. the teacher, the work can get more difficult without affecting the child to much. Extra classes after school should also be implemented where learners are encouraged so they can better their marks in a subject.
Standardized tests should be done away with as it only serves to inhibit learners. The goal of education is not to teach learners how to learn for exams or tests, but to teach learners how to learn and how to be lifelong learners. This break down the chains put around learners and enables them to be free. It also enables learners to be more easily trained in a workplace environment as these learners already know how to learn and how to think outside of the box.

Specialists should be appointed that specialise in child learning disabilities, child behaviour and teacher support. These specialists should be in every school and should be used by teachers as tools. This will enable schools to more accurately deal with learner problems and these specialists must work with the teachers to better these struggling students. By helping these struggling students it will create a better learning environment for all the learners.
All this said school should not be all about learning subjects. Every school must have access to sporting facilities and sport codes that interest the learners of the school and the community. It is no use having rugby at a school where the majority of the learners enjoy soccer or fencing. Sports help children develop skills that can’t be taught sitting still in a classroom looking at an interactive whiteboard. Children should be encouraged to do sports even if they are not good at it. Specialist sport coaches should be trained so that they can teach learners the proper techniques and values of a sporting code.
This essay has elaborated on the ills facing the current education system in South Africa. There are many challenges, mostly policy and socio-economic in nature. A definition of an education system and solutions for a utopian South African education system has been proposed. South Africa’s education system should improve as the future of the country and learners depend on it.