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Politicians use schools as platform
By Angelique Serrao
Schools have become political playgrounds, according to worried education experts, who have noticed an increase in politicking inside education institutions.
And, organisations wanting to flex their political muscles in schools are doing so to the detriment of children.
Teacher unions in particular. The unrest in Khutsong is a classic example of how pupils are sometimes used in political battles, writes Angelique Serrao have been named as aggressors in the school system, with some analysts saying that a new type of militant rhetoric is being used to mobilise children into following political causes.
The role of teacher unions has changed drastically over the past few years, says an education expert from the Development Bank of South Africa, Graeme Bloch.
He refers to a trend by the South African Democratic Teacher Union (Sadtu), in particular, to use threats in schools to get what they want. Earlier in 2009 there were reports that, after teachers were reprimanded in Alexandra for not teaching children, Sadtu threatened that every child who came to school would be met with violence.
A memo came to light from Sadtu, which wanted to put a stop to curriculum training by the Gauteng Department of Education, because such training takes place on Saturdays and in the afternoons on weekdays. Sadtu said teachers must be paid overtime for the courses.
"Anything that extends beyond the working hours and conditions of service of our members will be a declaration of hostilities," the letter read.
"We are in a state of perpetual readiness as Sadtu to disrupt these meetings and declare war on anyone who is arrogant to disregard this call."
Bloch says this type of rhetoric is discrediting teachers, many of whom are devoted their jobs.
"The bottom line is that I think they are crossing the line between unionism and thuggery, it is an insult to the many teachers who are out there doing their job, and believe that the interests of poor black children at school are as important as their specific labour relations interests," said Bloch.
Teachers' unions are not the only ones fingered: the ANC Youth League, the Department of Education, the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) and political parties have all been accused of trying to get control of schools.
The fight that is taking place in Khutsong is one example of pupils being used to forward a cause and schools in the area are starting to retaliate, asking for schooling to be left alone.
Bloch says there's a need to draw the line to ensure schools are safe havens, or else we will be releasing a tiger that we won't be able to control.
He says by playing to the natural militancy of young people, political organisations are adding to the bad discipline in schools.
"You see children attacking teachers all the time, so if you throw words like 'kill' around it's not just rhetoric. How can you say 'kill' figuratively when kids bring knives into schools. It's a dangerous edge we're on."
Democratic Alliance member of the Gauteng provincial legislature, David Quail, agrees with Bloch, saying that for some years now critics have questioned the role of unions in schools.
"Unions have played a very important role," Quail says.
"I was a teacher since 1959 and in that time conditions for teachers have improved dramatically. But there have been signs that Cosas and Sadtu have become a lot more politicised. It is seen as an easy way to raise their profile politically. Being a part of Cosas and Sadtu are ways of getting somewhere in the ANC and Cosatu."
Quail says that unions should be helping teachers to get better training and perform better in schools, but instead many seem to be protecting jobs at all costs and meanwhile putting a stop to many important functions in schools.
"We are not delivering quality in 80 percent of our schools. A lot of schools get little support from districts, and many believe this may be partly because of union influence.
"Why are there no skills audits on teachers? Unions stop those audits from happening because a lot of teachers are teaching beyond their qualifications. A lot of people will feel threatened. They are putting brakes on a lot of things," says Quail.
Bobo Mokoena, from the United Front governing body association, agrees that schools have become political terrains for different organisations to flex their power.
He said this interference comes from the both the department of education and different unions.
"At the end of the day it's the children who aren't being taught," Mokoena says.
"This political game in schools really has become a monster and we need to find a way to do away with it."
He says discussions can take place in forums and at meetings and shouldn't be happening inside school grounds.
Duncan Hindle, the Director-General of the national Department of Education, says they have a good relationship with unions, but these battles do seem to be happening at the provincial level.
"We have made it clear that at no cost should there be disruption of teaching time and when isolated incidents do arise, like the memo that went out in Gauteng, we talk to the national leadership," says Hindle.
Ronald Nyathi, Sadtu's spokesperson in Gauteng, says the memo calling for teacher workshops to be stopped caused a huge outcry in the legislature, but the union refused to retract the warlike language.
"We use that language because we feel it is the only language the department understands," says Nyathi.
He says Sadtu felt that teachers were being exploited because they were told at the last minute to attend compulsory workshops and they are not being paid any overtime.
"These workshops are done at the end of the financial year because suddenly the Gauteng Department of Education needs to spend their budgets. You find that 30 percent of the budget is spent," says Nyathi.
He says however that he does not believe schools are becoming political playgrounds. He said all organisations deal with internal politics, but it's just that in education the effects of this are immediately apparent, because it affects learners.
"It only gets taken to the school level in particular circumstances," says Nyathi.
"From time to time this will affect pupils but I don't believe it's to further people's political careers, it is rather letting people express their democratic rights."
This article was originally published on page 13 of The Star on July 22, 2008
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Thursday, November 20, 2008
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