Are we going through a pandemic that will limit the extent of our education?
By Malusi Zitha, 22, KZN
Since the year 2020, our education system has been tested and proven to be very much behind. We are experiencing a very difficult time that is questioning us as to how much have we achieved throughout the years of democracy.
Has the basic education system failed us? Well, I ask because currently, there are so many students who have passed without really meeting the requirements to pass. So many students are said to have passed if they achieve a 30% on each subject. What is that? This is the system used by the basic education department. Our brothers and sisters are grasping 30% of the information and said to be aware of what they learnt – that is a joke! I think we shouldn’t be fooling ourselves celebrating this kind of a system. I say this because these learners will get to varsity and be expected to achieve a minimum of 50% to pass, yet at basic level are being told to achieve 30%.
What are we preparing students for if we are going to say they only know 30%? This is absurd!
The pandemic has showed us that class in our country is still very much alive. I was looking at my neighbourhood and the rich kid was given tutorials online, given Zoom meetings to study more and given YouTube links of videos explaining what they need to study. Whilst my niece was at home watching TV non stop, I didn’t blame her however, because during lockdown there was no communication between her and her school. There was nothing given to her to work on, and at the same time I can’t blame educators but I can blame the system given to them.
We are moving towards the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), but we still have learners that can’t access work online simply because the government isn’t spending money on education. One will say they are, yes, they are spending money to build schools but what about spending money to transform the system so it moves with time. I think we have to make sure that we move with the times so we prepare a youth that will fit in this ever-moving world.
Even universities! Some universities are terrible with online learning yet we are going towards the 4IR. This is a joke. The government should start investing in our youth. Not only on businesses, but more on education.
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I truly share the same sentiments. I for one, am a university student and relate very well to what you just said. And I also believe that while the education system needs to invest more in our education, even teachers need to invest more in delivering content to our learner. Our teachers do not make learning a priority. One could say it is because of the circumstances they are in like having clustered classes and dealing with a lot of students at the same time. 30% as a requirement for passing is totally a joke. Having to now pull up your socks and meet the 50% requirement pass at university is not “pap and vleis”. It becomes pressure and causes anxiety. You now have to look for other study methods that will help you pass. And also, that 30% requirement pass limits most students because they do not meet the requirements needed at university because they were not pushed enough from high school. Our government really needs to think again about our education system because it is failing. And the fact that we are in 4IR makes matters worse. It becomes even more difficult to tackle learning at a time like this. They cannot tap into technology because they lack the gadgets to make it happen. Now that they take turns going to classes (going to class bi-weekly), when they are at home the other week, they do nothing. They are given some activities but they were never engaged with the content that they will need to tackle those activities