Save Our Future: Social Mobilisation and Collaboration

I have been seeing with growing interest how the political people have been able to mobilise communities for votes, on whose promise many communities depend, for their livelihoods.

I have seen political parties going from house to house, filling up stadiums and other town halls; I have seen them in church, luring the unsuspecting folk to join and support their political party ad their political rhetoric. All this is super admirable.

However, I have also seen how the politician - after securing the votes - has forgotten the folk at the church and the masses who hired buses to go to the stadium where Imbizo is called. I have seen how the promises made pre-election have been forgotten.

I will tell you something else I have seen though.

I have seen social mobilisation take on a new face. It is an open secret that education for the rural South Africa is the poorest in all of the country. Rural communities are condemned to mediocrity and starvation and servitude because they are educated poorly and this is so on many levels. 1. The schools infrastructure is often very poor, if there is any. 2. There are often limited or no funds at all to ensure the smooth-running of schools. 3. And the education department officials are often people who just wanted jobs but had no real interest in the concept and the philosophy of education.

In all of these tribulations and more, I have seen communities take initiatives to better the chances of the children through social mobilisation and collaborations. A colleague observed a school in the Eastern Cape where only 2 classes made up the school and one of those was a staffroom-cum-principal's office. This meant that almost the whole school's learning and teaching took place out in the sun (rain, rain, wind and whatever else is out there). A few concerned community members offered their houses as classes for the learners and asked for nothing in return. They had to move their belongings to neighbours and friends because they were committed to making education work for their children.

As I craft this post, and cold as it is today, there are about 150 learners at another school in the same province of Eastern Cape who will have their lessons out in the cold of the winter because their school does not have adequate classrooms; where 2 to 3 classes at a time will attend classes under the protection of the trees and standing on their feet for the whole day because they don't have proper furniture. Are there no business people to help? Are there  no churches to help? Do we have nobody caring? It starts with you.

Politicians argue that they have to mobilise for them to secure the votes necessary to offer better life and better education. True this as it may be, but instead of mobilising for political control, is it impossible for us to mobilise for specific issues; like ensuring the end to the injustices which asphyxiate the future of our people? Is it difficult for professionals to craft request letters to business, civil society and other structures, to land a helping hand? It is not. And we might be surprised by the responses we get when we ask.

I know it is simplistic to assume that by doing all these things we will get better education, but my point is that for that better education to take place, children must first be given spaces which will enable them to learn, and that may not only be the responsibility of the government but maybe the communities might also need to begin to mobilise ( and this time not on behalf of the politician but on behalf of the child).

So, if you have an old book shelf, an old room you no longer use, chairs and whatever else, please look around and see if your waste might not be some poor kid's treasure. Batho Pele.

Burning of schools is Treason

My return to this space is prompted by the recent attack on schools by poor Black people whose children depend on education for any kind of survival in this world, and for the advancement of the African knowledge.

And, perhaps, we must first agree that the burning of any public property like schools, libraries, clinics and other important institutions, must be regarded as treason of a higher kind. We must agree that these occurrences deserve the harshest kinds of condemnation and that the perpetrators must be punished with the maximum of penalties.

I am saying this is treason for two reasons: One, these destructive forces are denying the children pf Limpopo their basic human right to proper education: We know Limpopo is not the best of performers when it comes to schooling but it is for this very reason that we must protect and cherish the education community. Two, these irresponsible actions impact directly on the economy (today and in future) of the country because unplanned maintenance and building of new structures will cost South Africa dearly. These arsonists are therefore hindering the growth of the country, deliberately and using malicious methods, and they tarnish the image of the South African populace; making us look as though we have no appreciation for learning.

Most of us are busy trying to improve the state of education in this country while some ungrateful group seeks to demoralise and undermine our efforts, that is the treason.

This is where courageous leadership is needed. That it may provide a clear and concise verdict on what should be done with such hooligans who seek to turn ours into a joke Republic. Traditional leadership, government leadership and the general community must put aside their political differences and look at the reality for what it is: A picture of doom. For if community members of Vuwani are not interested in education, they must make that clear through their community leadership so that the whole community may be charged with treason for seeking to condemn the youth of that area to a life of mediocrity and servitude.

I will say no more.

Collaborations for a better future for all

I have had an opportunity to stand from a hilltop and shout to those who were listening, or not listening. I have said to them; "Education in South Africa is hopeless" and I have said; "South Africans do not care about education". Like many South Africans, I have enjoyed battering people who were trying to make it better. Yet, I understood little.

The ugly truth in our country is that there are those who receive better education than others, a scenario I find very unjust. But it must be understood, even by myself, that the primary education system in this land is the public education system. And yes, it is bad.

It is so bad that many learners tend to lose interest and communities just throw in the towel saying "We are wasting our money" - many have given up. They have said the government is clueless about what it wants to do with education. Nevertheless, I digress.

I shouted so loud that many people heard me and they shouted alongside me. But I later learnt that the truth is that there are many people who have been doing work to improve education in this country. Go to Vhembe in Limpopo, Bojanala in the North West, and Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape and see there how people work together to improve education.

With the arrival of the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) in these districts and in five more districts in the country, people of these communities have been re-awakened to their own responsibilities in the education of the country. Ordinary South Africans with not a lot of money to go around have come together to rally around a common goal, and that goal is to improve the education of the young South Africans whom we all seem to have given up on.

In the districts I have mentioned, communities are hard-hit by poverty and strife, but they have formed an understanding that says through the education of the young ones, theirs will be a better plight in the future.

The principle for these communities is that collaboration with various stakeholders such as business, civil society, labour, traditional houses and other community members is the only way through which better education results will come. And the results I speak of do not necessarily speak to Grade 12 learners but these results speak to knowledge of the self and the knowledge of the communities from which these learners come.

The idea therefore that "together we can achieve more" is most resonating to the peoples of these communities because they find themselves serving their communities and securing a heritage of which they will all be proud.

There are many other areas of life where we can actually see the desired results, but only if we collaborate and work together.

Together we are stronger!

Change Of Plans: All Things Education

It has been very long since I posted one of these.

On this day, I celebrate my comeback. Things will be a little different here now, in that we will be doing a lot of talking about education improvement in the country and we will look at provinces like the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu Natal and the North West.

We will look at what the communities are doing to better their children's chances of obtaining a respectable and up-to-standard education. We will look at what challenges face the schools as institutions. We will also take a glance at the welfare of the children attending schools and we will interrogate the psychological welbeing of both the teachers and the learners, and even parents where applicable and necessary.

These and many other topics will be accompanied by our new video section where we will have a video clip of someone from the ground who will be addressing a particular point.We will also take closer glances at community-based projects as well as youth projects that are doing work which is empowering the local youth and the community as a whole, and we will talk about what they do and we will seek to inspire more young people to get involved in their communities.

But before I stop here, and as in keeping with the theme of Education, I would like to pay tribute to the parents and communities of Ntabankulu, Mt. Ayliff and Mt. Frere in the Eastern Cape, for their involvement in the affairs of their schools. Also, respect to the teachers who consistently show ambition and dedication for teaching.

We will also engage a lot of young people who are still in schools; we will try engage them on academic issues, entrepreneurship development, community work and sex and drug abuse. There are very interesting stories here and very important lessons to be learnt from these conversation and many will agree with me once we start publishing these.

Until the next post, keep working hard and dreaming big.

It Takes Hours, Really.

It Takes Hours, Really.

The more I think about it is the more I realize that many young people don’t realize that seeing your dream come through only takes hours.

This sounds like a joke but it is not. The only thing needed for anybody’s dream, projects, assignments and whatever else, is time. If you put in the hours working, doing what you have to do to see success, then the end result will most likely reflect the work and hours you put in. 

We have acknowledged many times now that humans are generally a lazy species however it takes those who have also accepted that rising above the laziness and typing that assignment, or doing those interviews, or writing that script, the result will not be in your favor.

The good professor Albert Einstein is said to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result. Time has now come for us too to realize that perhaps some of our ways and approaches have are to be held accountable for the situations we find ourselves in, whether good or not-so-good.

Young people, especially in the townships, that the saying which went a little something like “good things come to those who wait” is long past. The future is here, today. Now!