For once the NYDA is tackling the issue of education. I certainly do agree with its Andile Lungisa, Chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) on the issue of making education an essential service. However the irony of it all is that we declare something an essential service but are unwilling to pay top dollar for that service. Granted the government is currently spending a fortune on the education sector (R189billion) but if we are to truly transform this economy we cannot put a cost to the benefits of a prosperous South Africa.

SADTU is also quite correct in pointing out that the problems in our education sector are systemic and we have to change the structure of the sector for us to achieve meaningful results. There are numerous intelligent suggestions out there on how we should deal with this sector. In other words everyone understands the problems with the education sector in South Africa. What continues to confuse me is that the cabinet continues to have these private lekogtlas to analyses problems we already know. What we need is action, decisive public and private sector action.

Blaming and penalising teachers, principals parents will not result in the improvement of the quality of education in this country. For me the crux of the problem is the issue of quality and process.

Firstly I do not think that the education sector should be headed by one minister or one individual. The problems of social change are just too complex to be fathomed by an individual. What we need is a think tank that manages the education sector. In my opinion the politicians involved in education despite their knowledge and qualifications cannot be expected to deal with the ever-changing variables of change. If I were the president, I would appoint a think tank made up of those with change management experience and those with academic experience who have worked elsewhere where education systems work to run the education department for the next five years or so and have a mandate to deliver a system that will meet the demands of a fast changing world.

According to MIT and Fudan University professor Yasheng Huang, in his analysis of whether democracy hinders or promotes economic growth, he finds that the competitive advantage of nations such as China is not infrastructure but how countries manage their human capital and the work ethic. With all the growth objectives, the job creation initiatives, the large spend on infrastructure , the South African economy will go nowhere until we make our priority the development, preservation and recognition of our human capital. Education is there a key success factor and cannot be treated lightly as we are doing now.

The education sector cannot be left to unions to determine policy nor can it be left to this government alone. It is a national crisis that all South Africans must now address. This of course includes the private sector. It is evident that it is not about financial resources but about management of the process of education.

Education will continue to suffer as long as the quality of our teachers and the teacher to pupil ratio remains as it is. Last time I looked South Africa needs 25,000 teachers per annum but currently have 6,000 who are predominantly women educated and trained during apartheid bantu education. This is while the country had thousands of Zimbabwean trained teachers who are performing menial jobs in restaurants, gardeners and security guards.  Obviously organisation such as SADTU and COSATU will not accept such a solution because these teachers will do probably accept lower wages.

We also must ensure our education syllabus meets international standards such as the Cambridge curriculum. This issue of teaching children in their home language is clear future disadvantage to South African learners. We are using our emotions to disadvantage millions of children who will need to survive in the information age and most of that information is in English.

We cannot expect mangoes from an apple tree and so we must not expect to produce educated, articulate competent learners as long as we retain the current management systems. I am probably the umpteenth person to say the above but at this rate we all need to drum into the ANC that despite having all the resources and the right intentions, they are failing dismally to create a future generation that can compete in the global economy.

I can't claim to be an expert on education yet, but as an economist it is my opinion that the whole education cocktail in this country is just too toxic and lethal to human capital development

Vince Musewe is an economist and you may contact him on [email protected]

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