- Pupils raised their concerns during school library march.Photo:EE
Education was a focus in Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address. In an interview featured on politicsweb.co.za he proposed focusing on the “Triple T,” which stands for teachers, text books and time.
He emphasised that by law, teachers must spend enough hours teaching at schools and children must have access to books, therefore having time to deliver these necessities is crucial.
Equal Education (EE), a community and membership-based organisation that is committed at achieving quality education in South Africa, is here to ensure that all the promises that are being made around educations are fullfilled.
Doron Isaacs, Equal Education Director, said, for too long, South African education policy has been at war with the basics, including textbooks. He said, under Minister Angie Motshekga, this has thankfully changed and now the President is underlining that. But EE will not wait to see whether the President’s words magically deliver textbooks and teachers on time to every child.
Isaacs said they will continue their daily campaigning work to make sure that this happens.
“We will keep training learners, parents and community members to hold their schools accountable in these crucial areas. We will keep pressuring government to revisit the tendering process for textbooks to bring down the cost, and will pressure the publishers to stop profiteering at the expense of our education,” he said.
- Teachers and pupils at Masiyile High School were thrilled during library launch. Photo:EE
In its 4th year of existence, EE will be marching on the 21st of March to demand basic infrastructure in all South African Schools. They are doing so to ask basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga , to fulfill her promise of finalising Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure by the end of March 2011.
They will host events geared toward people who care about education. The first is People’s Summit for Equal Education that will take place on 25-28 June at Khayelitsha and UCT. Later this year, EE will hold its First National Congress that will be open for EE members and will allow them to debate and decide upon the future priorities.
Creative Consulting & Development Works truly see value in EE’s efforts and initiatives. In just three years, the organisation has mobilised the South African community and made great improvements on the education sector. We support EE, IkamvaYouth, and other organisations as they continue to improve the quality of education in South Africa.
