“The problem is that you keep making education a side chick. You are even cutting the budget and teachers are being fired in schools that are overcrowded.
“You need to pay as much attention to education as you pay to independent power producers. You need to stop pretending it is OK to have an education system where a pass mark can be 30% or 40%. You need to stop acting like it’s OK to have 40% of children drop out before grade 12.”
On Friday, BOSA led a picket alongside unemployed teachers against proposed education budget cuts and cuts in teacher posts in the Western Cape.
Last month Ramaphosa signed the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill into law, which aims to address key challenges hindering the education system in South Africa. Maimane raised concerns about its effectiveness in improving education quality.
“You signed the Bela Bill, but it changes nothing about the quality of education in this nation. The schools you saw in disrepair and in dilapidated states are seen everywhere and every day by South Africans. Can you stop acting shocked and shock us with real action in education? Does this GNU care about the 13-million children who go to failing schools in this nation?” he said.
Ramaphosa is the chair of Adopt-a-School Foundation, a nonprofit which helps refurbish schools across the country. He has been involved in the initiative since the early 2000s.
“I promised that I want to go around the country to encourage those of us who have become successful to go back to our schools and see the conditions they are in. I want to go district by district,” he said.
TimesLIVE
Innocentia Nkadimeng
www.timeslive.co.za
