Stepping out of the BOX

Many years into a democracy we still have students struggling to reach their full potential, we still have a government that fails the very people that put them into power in the first place.  

We still have a system of oppression, just silenced by the 21st Century. The lack of options for young people being evident everywhere you go.

Walking the streets you see so many begging, borrowing or joining a gang for that sense of belonging and achievement. It is sad that the great men and woman of our time fought tediously for freedom, a freedom that we should be enjoying and relishing in however many cannot due to poverty and lack of education.

With the world emerging from a global economic crisis, the demand for University education is higher than ever before. Unfortunately the rates of young people finishing high school is staggeringly low, only 36% of students that get to grade 12 from grade 11 manage to pass and unfortunately for many their grades cannot get them into a Tertiary Institution of their choice. (Source: The Municipal Outreach Project, January 2009)

The main reason learners give for not completing their matric is the inability to pay fees, bringing us the reality that poverty even 16 years into a democracy is very real. With over 10 million South Africans living on less than R250 per month and more than 60% of young people being unemployed.

Developing a nation of educated leaders is hard, however it is not impossible. In South Africa the problem is not the amount of money spent on our education system but rather the outcome of our education system.

Students just do not understand the curriculum, many of them are getting placed from one grade to the next without the ability to read or write. This is an injustice to them and their development, they are being deprived valuable skills and if by any luck they reach university they will suffer because you either make the grade or you don’t.

We all need to step out of these comfortable boxes of ours and realize that the future of this country lies in the emerging young people. As Africans we are beyond the handout phase of our development, therefore we should be making sure that our youth are competent enough to study anywhere, confident enough to know that they can do anything with hard work and compassionate enough to know that they not on this journey alone.