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!