Teachers’ union is the “worst thing to happen to a black child”
Helen Zille says that the Western Cape Government has launched its Education ePortal, which the premier believes can revolutionise teaching and learning.
In her latest newsletter posted on Inside Government, Zille pointed out that the launch took place in the same week the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) told Education Minister Angie Motshekga that it would not administer the Annual National Assessments to learners.
As a result, the literacy and numeracy tests, which more than 8 million pupils were due to start tomorrow (Tuesday), have been postponed till February 2016, “disrupting the school timetable to suit SADTU’s agenda,” Zille said.
The decision prompted well-known television host and columnist, Justice Malala, to tweet “SADTU is the worst thing to ever happen to a black child”.
Justice Malala’s SADTU tweet
Zille said that SADTU members may be unconcerned about meeting that set benchmarks, because many of enroll their own children in former Model C schools, where teachers will do whatever it takes to ensure learners become literate and numerate.
“The biggest challenge in education is what we can do about the millions of children ‘left behind’. The history of our democracy is marked by false starts and dead ends in the myriad attempts to find solutions,” the premier said.
Zille said that the future of education will involve harnessing technology, which could help resolve many educational issues in the country.
“Of course, this is not a given. But it is already happening in middle-class schools. If we fail to provide the same access to poor children, they will merely fall further and further behind.”
The premier said that the local government’s vision is to use technology to enable every child and every educator, anywhere, to access the best learning material, the best teachers, and the best teaching methods.
Zille said that the ePortal seeks to make this possible by providing a customised ‘search engine’ which brings every useful educational resource together in a single website.
The site will include all stakeholders: teachers, learners, parents, leadership teams, school governing bodies, school suppliers, departmental officials and many more.
The ePortal will provide a minimal filter to ensure appropriate content that is aligned to the South African curriculum.
Zille said that the greatest challenge is to ensure affordable access – the biggest barrier to this is the cost of a “smart” device and connectivity.
“That is why the Western Cape government has budgeted R2-billion over 10 years to ensure that every school in the Province has access to high-speed, reliable, free broadband connectivity.”
“If our roll-out goes according to plan, every Western Cape school should be connected to the internet by the end of next year – with access speeds starting at 100 Megs per second for large schools,” Zille said.
By that time, most of the province’s 36,000 teachers will have been trained to use technology optimally in the education process, the premier said.
Zille said that the Western Cape government is researching international best practice to ensure that every teacher and learner has access to a smart device – at least during school hours.
More on education in SA
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