LETTER: ANC’s worst failure is perpetuating poor government education
Those deprived of adequate education while at school fall short when they reach middle and top management
26 June 2023 - 17:06
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Labour minister Thulas Nxesi laments the fact that whites still constitute 63% of top management in SA. Does the minister — and the ANC — not understand cause and effect?
If 80% of SA’s 10-year-olds cannot read for meaning (and it is inconceivable that this only pertains to 10-year-olds) this eventually translates to only 20% of the population being capable of top management. If a child cannot read at school, his or her life is forever blighted.
Surely the ANC can understand this? Rather than berate employers for recalcitrance in workplace empowerment, the ANC should recognise that state education is, and has long been, in crisis.
The greatest failure of the ANC has been to perpetuate poor government education post-apartheid. Anecdotal stories abound of dedicated and competent white teachers summarily discarded from state schools post 1994 in the rush to “transform”.
Inevitably, those deprived of adequate education while at school fall short when they reach middle and top management. But it's never too late. The governing party should now employ the best teachers money can buy, and for once place the country's children before the teachers' unions.
Willem Cronje Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: ANC’s worst failure is perpetuating poor government education
Those deprived of adequate education while at school fall short when they reach middle and top management
Labour minister Thulas Nxesi laments the fact that whites still constitute 63% of top management in SA. Does the minister — and the ANC — not understand cause and effect?
If 80% of SA’s 10-year-olds cannot read for meaning (and it is inconceivable that this only pertains to 10-year-olds) this eventually translates to only 20% of the population being capable of top management. If a child cannot read at school, his or her life is forever blighted.
Surely the ANC can understand this? Rather than berate employers for recalcitrance in workplace empowerment, the ANC should recognise that state education is, and has long been, in crisis.
The greatest failure of the ANC has been to perpetuate poor government education post-apartheid. Anecdotal stories abound of dedicated and competent white teachers summarily discarded from state schools post 1994 in the rush to “transform”.
Inevitably, those deprived of adequate education while at school fall short when they reach middle and top management. But it's never too late. The governing party should now employ the best teachers money can buy, and for once place the country's children before the teachers' unions.
Willem Cronje
Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.