Just Thinking

It is less than two weeks before the local government elections.  Political Parties and independent candidates are trying to convince people to vote for them.  There is also talk that this could be the last stand-alone local government elections as there could be an overhaul of the election system and timetable by 2014.  In future, we could be going to the polls to vote for the President, Premier and the Mayor on the same date. What is bothering me is the stance that some people have taken against voting.  These are people who feel that they have been disappointed after lofty promises were made when parties courted their votes and these were not fulfilled.  Others argue that they are being used as voting fodder by politicians who do not have the community’s interests at heart.  This feeling is summed up by the New Frank Talk editor Andile Mngxitama in one weekly newspaper as he laments the loss of democracy’s meaning because the people are called upon ev...

The 2009 Grade 12 results are out and they don’t look good. There has been a 2% decline in the national pass rate when compared to the previous year. The Western Cape has declined by 2.7%. If we believe what the Minister of Education is saying then we are not doing well in an important indicator of the quality of our education system. Our education system is therefore forty percent from being excellent.  The Minister has already identified what she thinks are contributing factors to the parlous state of our education. Backed by a report on the Implementation of the National Curriculum Statement she sees an urgent need to improve the quality of teaching in schools in order to achieve. Her initiative in this regard is the establishment of a Teacher Development Branch that will focus on “increasing the support to teachers in terms of strengthening teaching skills and content knowledge.” Reading through the Minister’s speech one get the sense that she views teachers as the weakest li...