The report in the Daily News of April 11 on the dysfunctional state of Mariann Ridge Secondary school in many ways reflects the trend in education after 24 years of ANC rule.
Not only is the infrastructure of the school broken in terms of toilets, doors, windows and lights but vandalism is rife. Added to that, those who call themselves teachers are failing to lead by example in terms of punctuality, enforcement of dress code and etiquette. Instead, their union meetings take precedence over school attendance. Their apparent indifference has resulted in learners absconding, gambling, selling cigarettes and dagga.
A deplorable state of affairs indeed but sadly one that is encroaching on schools countrywide and which has manifested itself at tertiary level. So-called students who trash libraries and facilities on university campuses and technikons and, for the most part, get away with it, are setting the tone and the parameters of the future of this country.
What kind of society will prevail when their generation has grown up? What kind of offspring will they bring into the world given their own anarchic conduct?
As a retired teacher, there is no former colleague I know who would go back to teaching in a state school for any price. Worse still, of the younger teachers I know, most are disillusioned with teaching and its prospects.
The sad shambles of Mariannridge school portends South Africa’s future.
No wonder emigration just keeps accelerating.
Sent into The Daily News and published, 13 April 2018.
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