I am a 69 year old, professional, studied ECD, REMEDIAL THERAPY, Speech, Language & Hearing Therapist, B,Ed (Hons) a vast experience working with children, in hospital, government, privately too, now retired but still do part time with children who struggle to read in my town.
I am writing to you with a heavy heart, not to brag about my education because you can be educated but not concerned about the plight of the children, just use the children as a means to earn money and sustain your comforts.
I grew as a young girl, in a village, poor and have seen and experienced apartheid, where even when you wanted to study at WITS, UJ, PRETORIA, you were told you are not from the correct high school to take you. I am one of the determined women who was so angry that when President Mandela said to universities to open the doors to the thousands who were excluded, I went straight to Pretoria University, I was over 40 years, they tried the same tactics to discourage me, I refused, I was determined to see if my brain is really different.
I was accepted, taught in Afrikaans, I had to work 3x harder because of the language issue, I would fail the tests, not because I am stupid, I realized my lecturers only knew Afrikaans, trained to teach their children, I was so determined to prove them wrong, i studied Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, others gave up, I refused to give up, they tried all the tactics to discourage me, i managed to finish on time, graduated with them,IT WAS HARD, ALONE, BLACK,OLDER, that is why I know now that I am smarter, but they make me fail to discourage me, I kept keeping on.
Recently, I saw the group/class photo, I am excluded from that group photo, the challenge I am going to confront because MY GRANDCHILDREN MUST KNOW AND SEE THAT PHOTO
To cut the long story short, I admire your courage, strength, consistency to speak out courageously about difficult issues.
It was during this lock down, where I observed, the indifference and the cruelty of the employers, I see many brave women working for the white employers, braving cold winter days, long summer days to be able to put food on the table for their children, come the lock down period, many were told stay at home, some were given no salary, a meager salary i mean, not even the minimum wage i am speaking about, R150/ day or even R100/day, that stopped or was cut to next to nothing. I talk a lot to some women, either afraid to talk, others do share their challenges,
THIS WAS THE TIME I HAD A MINDSET SHIFT, I said to myself, how on earth can the employers go to checkers, fill the trolleys with luxury items, but tell the workers, go home, to your government, WHEN THEY KNOW THEY DID NOT REGISTER EMPLOYEES TO ACCESS THE UIF?
Not only that concerns me, concerning the education of our young, I see many so called private schools, home schools, boarding houses, home work, afterschools, I know there are many well meant private institutions out there, BUT Mr Malema, I worked privately with children, the majority experiencing difficulties with reading, learning, language, all these are crucial prerequisites for academic success, I thoroughly take interviews, histories to determine objectively what could be the reason for the child to struggle at school, there are children who learn differently, process information differently, requires strategies to help them understand what ever topic you want to teach, they are not a problem, the problem are the teachers who are not equipped with skills to teach such children,
I found that the majority of this children starts in these " private schools" headed by and controlled mostly by teachers, who according to the history in our country, are teachers who went to Afrikaans schools, where on earth did they qualify to teach English to our children? teaching our black children, do they understand how our children learn? do they bother to upgrade themselves to be able to teach in our diverse society? do they bother to work with some of us who are specialized and know the background of our children ? No, that superiority mentality, still operates, they will rather refer to a white person not a black specialist no matter the good work you are doing.
I have seen parents taken their babies at 6months in an " english preschool" by five years that child only knows a concoction of little afrikaans and english words, cannot construct a sentence like " may I please go to the toilet" why? he only know " do you want to pepepee? why so? because no one bothers to check the qualification of these so called teachers in these private schools, how come can people be so cruel and make money out of children education, destroying their future ? they know that they have no skills to teach them, its money spinning enterprises, businesses hiring unqualified staff.
I am writing this letter to you, because I never understood what makes you so mad about the injustices, the in differences in our society, I.am now enough.
I hear you talking of a private school, where the education of our children can be taken seriously, where it would not be business as usual, not money spinning enterprises that have mushroomed in our country, i dont want to mention names.
I see so many young people in grade 10 who cannot read, what is the future of this young man, young woman? to be a cleaner? gardener? when I see them, I know that we ADULTS have failed them, we fail our children in so many different ways, I am going to stop because I am now crying. Children are our future leaders.