This week South Africa’s Basic Education Department has been
in court. According to the article, they have been accused of failing to
deliver textbooks to the schools in northern Limpopo province. The schools have
had no textbooks the whole year and are trying to cope. Mrs. Manaka, a teacher,
stated in the article that she has ordered textbook many times, but the
department never delivered them. Mrs. Manaka is scared that the students aren’t
going to good on the end of the year test because they don’t have textbooks to
look at or study from. Parents are also upset that they’re students don’t have
textbooks because the schools are studying a new curriculum this year. Parents
along with members of the community are asking where the money went. According
to the article, “Two years ago Limpopo’s education department decided to
contract out the procurement and distribution of textbooks” (“On the Trial of
South Africa’s Missing Textbooks”). They did this with a company call
EduSolutions. However, it was clear that the textbooks would cost the state a
lot more money. Solly Tshitangano stated that the politicians and officials
decided to outsource textbook supply in order to find a new way to defraud the
taxpayer. By the end of last year Limpopo had run out of textbook money before
the school year even started for 2012. However, the government has cancelled
their contract with EduSolutions and already saved a lot of money in the process.
There still aren’t any textbooks as end of year exams approach. Parents are
still furious and blame politicians for just “eating” the money.
The fact that students need to learn their material with the
help of a textbook, but don’t have any textbooks is a problem. Textbooks are a
way to show and explain material better. Students also can learn a lot more
from textbooks. Therefore, the education department is stealing away from these
students’ education. A lot of schools are poor; however, they should be able to
have some type of access to textbooks. In Limpopo’s case they should have gotten
textbooks because the education department told them they would. As citizens we
trust the people who are over us, however, in Limpopo their education department
failed them. It’s also a problem that a company like EduSolutions would just
take money. Students need textbooks to gain a better understanding of knowledge;
it’s not fair to have them suffer. This situation is also causing uproar among parents.
In the article it stated many parents are furious. It also stated that one
parent said the education department promised the schools books, but still no
books. The schools have even tried to get books by requesting them and ordering
them multiple times, but no change. Limpopo is still waiting for books which is
a problem because end of year tests are approaching and students need to do
well.
12:50 pm 10/4/12
No comments:
Post a Comment