It takes a village to educate a child

The African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” speaks to the very core of what we as a people must embrace to create a community in which we are all involved in the education of our children. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, so, too, does it take a village to educate our children.

As the recent matric results show, education is a societal issue and is the responsibility of us all. From the learner to the teacher, from the school bus driver to the groundsman, from academics to activists. We – all of us – must ask, realise and embrace how each of us contributes to give our children the best chance to break the vicious cycle of poverty so many are trapped in.

As a writer in the Daily Maverick said in 2020: “All South Africans should be mobilised to co-own the education system — it cannot continue to be the responsibility of officials in the school system, unions representing educators, and parents with learners in schools alone.”

“At Kagiso Trust, our Beyers Naude School Development Programme (BNSDP) has shown how open partnerships between trusts and government that involve all stakeholders produce a positive result,” said Kagiso Trust CEO Mankodi Moitse. “Our relationship with the Free State Department of Education has seen the province top the matric results table in the last few years, a feat it once again attained for the 2021 school year, achieving a pass rate of 87.5 %, an improvement of 0.6% on 2020. Motheo (87.9%) and Fezile Dabi (87.5%) placed second and third in the list of top-performing districts in the country for the third year in a row.”

The Free State MEC of Education, his officials and parents are fully committed to the programme, which ensures its success and sustainability. Financial investment bolstered by the buy-in of communities to place education at the soul of their “education villages”. Parents are part of the governance of schools. Community businesses build and service the schools. The Free State Department of Education has bought into the District Whole School Development model. Each part begets the other. Communication amongst parties involved in decision-making processes, using lessons learned from others, knowing what is working and what is not will create a great education system for all. Looking for a top-down solution ignores the power of a bottom-up community approach.

“While the overall matric rate improved to 76.4% it is heartening, seeing that 61.8% of bachelor passes came from South Africa’s poorest schools – the quintile 1-3 schools – it’s laudable. This was a remarkable achievement especially after two years of the pandemic, which has disrupted education to such an incredible degree,” said Moitse.

“We are currently advocating the BNSDP model to every underperforming schools and district in the county. We are also working to replicate the Free State success in the Sekhukhune East District where we have partnered with the Limpopo of Education. We work in nine of the 16 circuits of Sekhukhune East District, which are clustered into Magakala and Bohlabela, and include the villages of Moroke, Atok, Phasha-Selatole, Selala, Driekop, Seokodibeng, Mandagsoek, Tubatse, Riba-cross, Practiseer, Bogwasha, Penge, Alverton,

Kgautswane, Taung, Mashamthane, Sekopung and others. The pandemic and high unemployment has had a devastating effect on the area.” However, we are encouraged to note a marginal improvement of 2,5% from last year’s results of 56.1%.

Although some schools improved, we have identified a number of challenging issues in the district.

The Free State faced a similar situation in 2013 and it required teacher skills training, Leadership development and empowerment workshops, thus creating an effective working environment

Education is a societal issue, and its problems cannot be a blame game nor an abdication of responsibility, it is down to each one of us to play our part. Identify your role in the education of our children. Join the dots between the different role players and how each complements and enhances the other. Understand that many play a role and, yet don’t know the importance of that role.

We are all teachers. We are all carers. How we live, what we do, how we enable the structure of the network, the knowing that knowledge and education can change a generation and shape a country.