As a result of the bleak reality of South
Africa's overcrowded education system, large groups of students across the
country are gearing up to tutor disadvantaged children, writes NICOLL KENNY
(extracts from the article in The Big Issue October)
The education system within under-privileged
communities around South Africa is in a dismal state. The teachers and the
children in these schools are under serious threat of losing the battle that
they fight each day.
Without massive financial input from the government these
schools will cease to function at all, leaving millions uneducated. However,
there is hope amid the chaos of overcrowded classrooms and among underpaid
teachers. Universities around South Africa have set up tutoring programs in
order to help to create an educated future generation from the depths of
poverty.
Yamkela, from Eluxolweni School in
Khayelitsha, Cape Town, is running around Kirstenbosch Gardens, enjoying the
fresh air and unlimited running space. This outing with the University of Cape
Town's development program, STEP (Student Education Programme), gives Yamkela
the chance to get out of Khayelitsha for a few hours and enjoy an event that
children in privileged situations have the chance to enjoy every weekend. For a
few hours she can forget about school and the work that she struggles with.
The
sense of freedom that she experiences today allows her to forget the
overcrowded classroom that she learns in during the week. The struggles that
Yamkela faces are not hers alone. Every child in South Africa's underprivileged
communities is faced with the same obstacles.
By receiving an education, the children in
these communities have a chance to better their situations. The teachers go to
work each day to fight for these children's right to learn. And then there are
the students from around the country who devote hours of their lives to giving
back to the community information and life skills that they were fortunate
enough to have received. In a country where 44,5% of the population lives in
poverty stricken conditions, it is clear that massive amounts of help are
needed to uplift these communities.
Given an education, these communities could
eventually start to compete with the rest of South Africa, and the eradication
of underprivileged communities would eventually occur. At the moment, however,
the education system in place within these communities presents no image of
upliftment.
...
Because of
over-crowding, teachers often don't know the names of all their pupils. If
pupils do not have a defining characteristic that makes them memorable to the
teacher, such as bad behaviour or academic struggles, they fade into the
background of the classroom environment. These ghost children may get through the
work and pass at the end of the year, but what, other then a year of education,
have they received from school?
....
Some children never even enter high school,
and others may fail repeatedly as a result of a lack of individual help in
school. Parents and children become disillusioned, causing drop out rates to
soar. In the end these children become mere statistics illustrating the
shocking public education system in South Africa, rather then future leaders of
South Africa.
....
Nabe, who taught Yamkela in grade three, saw that Yamkela was
having problems with her English and maths skills. She was falling behind and
Nabe, trying to manage a class of 64 students, could not give Yamkela her
undivided attention. She knew, however, that she could help Yamkela in another
way. She told Yamkela that from now on, instead of going home after school she
was going to STEP. Nabe saw signs of improvement in Yamkela's work; where she
had once been a follower, she was now a leader.
.....
South Africa
benefits from these tutoring programs immensely, as not only are learners
given the chance to receive extra help in achieving an education, but very
clear steps are being taken by students to learn about a world that few of them
have ever experienced or even knew existed.
Read the full article in The October Edition of The Big Issue or book an Arrival Package on CapeTownMagazine.com
