REFLECTIONS ON ANOTHER LONG WEEKEND
14 JUNE 2014
South Africans enjoy their weekends to the fullest, and another one has arrived. But the
excItement is slightly subdued due to the weather conditions, with very cold nights,with
the temperature going down to -2 C last night.The day time is ok,if it is 20 C and above.
But the worst is yet to come, when night time temperature drops as low as -7 C in this area.
The long weekend here is due to June 16th,which is celebrated as Youth Day in South
Africa, to honour the fallen heroes of Soweto in 1976, when the black children began a
protest against the imposition of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in schools.In fact,
it was a protest against the poor quality of education given to black children.The apartheid
authorities didn't want to provide quality education to black children because they wanted
blacks as an abundant source of cheap labour.The Soweto uprising spread like wild fire,and
the authorities were taken off guard, and in the ensuing street battles, about 600 school children
were killed. Their deaths were not in vain, because that event brought South Africa under
the spotlight, and its isolation from the world community was intensified,sanctions were
tightened,and the pressure to demolish apartheid gathered momentum from within and
outside the country.The Soweto uprising was the most important catalyst that speeded up
the downfall of apartheid.
As 16th June this year is on a Sunday, 17th is given as a Public Holiday.This year's
celebrations are subdued due to the ill-health of former President Nelson Mandela.
37 years after the Soweto uprising, and 19 years after attaining freedom, whether the
black children have achieved what their fallen heroes had fought for is a hotly debated
issue.As far as the quality of education is concerned, there's a pattern in the Third World.
The children of the rich,as well as the children of the middle classes generally get a good
quality education,whereas the children of the poor get a substandard education.Due to
the inequalities in education, similar socioeconomic problems plague the poorest of the
poor in the Third World countries.To cite two examples:In the low-lying areas of the
Cape flats ( a big settlement of poor people near Cape Town ), as well as at Chenkal Choola
near Trivandrum, the people's houses or shacks are submerged during the rainy season,which
surprisingly,are in these days ! In South Africa,as well as in Kerala, there aren't enough
doctors to treat the poorest of the poor.Quality education is a mirage until the engineers,
doctors,nurses,technicians etc emerge from the poor communities.
The South African goverment has done many good things to bring quality education to
the children in the rural areas.In the school where my wife and I teach, the students get
all the textbooks and stationery free.They get a free lunch.They are provided free transport
from their homes to school and back.They don't pay any exam fees.Bursaries and student
loans are easily available.These steps are bearing fruit because children of school-attending
age are encouraged to attend school.Child labour is non-existent.
The most glaring drawback of education here is that Mathematics and Science subjects
are offered by very few students in the rural areas.Until all the children offer maths and
Science,the quality of education leaves much to be desired.EdUcation is effective only
when doctors, engineers and other prfessionals emerge from poor communities and serve
their own communities.In this regard,there's a lack of commitment from the educated
youth here as well as in Kerala.
It will take hundreds of pages to write about the similarities between Kerala and South
Africa,but I restrict myself to one thing more because it's linked to education.It's what we
call '' marku danam' or 'free marks' given to students in public exams.Here it's called 'mahala'.
The authorities do this annual stunt to cover up lapses in education,and to hoodwink the
public to believe that all is well with education.
Forgive me when I deviate a bit and mention a similarity between Kerala and South Africa.
In Kerala,the KSEB and here ESKOM are the electricity companies respectively.Nowadays
I hear Eskom's advice to the people,over the radio, about the need to use electricity sparingly,
to switch off unnecessary lights,to use blankets instead of heaters etc etc.In today's Citizen
newspaper there's a report that in the Johannesburg area alone this year,about 1 billion Rands
have been lost by Eskom due to illegal connections, faulty metres,electricity theft,faulty
billing etc.In Kerala,we saw how electricity is wasted in the mansions of the ministers.
The conclusion is: Third World countries are far from one another in terms of thousands
of kms,but the attitudes, styles of functioning,problems etc are the same.
14 JUNE 2014
South Africans enjoy their weekends to the fullest, and another one has arrived. But the
excItement is slightly subdued due to the weather conditions, with very cold nights,with
the temperature going down to -2 C last night.The day time is ok,if it is 20 C and above.
But the worst is yet to come, when night time temperature drops as low as -7 C in this area.
The long weekend here is due to June 16th,which is celebrated as Youth Day in South
Africa, to honour the fallen heroes of Soweto in 1976, when the black children began a
protest against the imposition of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in schools.In fact,
it was a protest against the poor quality of education given to black children.The apartheid
authorities didn't want to provide quality education to black children because they wanted
blacks as an abundant source of cheap labour.The Soweto uprising spread like wild fire,and
the authorities were taken off guard, and in the ensuing street battles, about 600 school children
were killed. Their deaths were not in vain, because that event brought South Africa under
the spotlight, and its isolation from the world community was intensified,sanctions were
tightened,and the pressure to demolish apartheid gathered momentum from within and
outside the country.The Soweto uprising was the most important catalyst that speeded up
the downfall of apartheid.
As 16th June this year is on a Sunday, 17th is given as a Public Holiday.This year's
celebrations are subdued due to the ill-health of former President Nelson Mandela.
37 years after the Soweto uprising, and 19 years after attaining freedom, whether the
black children have achieved what their fallen heroes had fought for is a hotly debated
issue.As far as the quality of education is concerned, there's a pattern in the Third World.
The children of the rich,as well as the children of the middle classes generally get a good
quality education,whereas the children of the poor get a substandard education.Due to
the inequalities in education, similar socioeconomic problems plague the poorest of the
poor in the Third World countries.To cite two examples:In the low-lying areas of the
Cape flats ( a big settlement of poor people near Cape Town ), as well as at Chenkal Choola
near Trivandrum, the people's houses or shacks are submerged during the rainy season,which
surprisingly,are in these days ! In South Africa,as well as in Kerala, there aren't enough
doctors to treat the poorest of the poor.Quality education is a mirage until the engineers,
doctors,nurses,technicians etc emerge from the poor communities.
The South African goverment has done many good things to bring quality education to
the children in the rural areas.In the school where my wife and I teach, the students get
all the textbooks and stationery free.They get a free lunch.They are provided free transport
from their homes to school and back.They don't pay any exam fees.Bursaries and student
loans are easily available.These steps are bearing fruit because children of school-attending
age are encouraged to attend school.Child labour is non-existent.
The most glaring drawback of education here is that Mathematics and Science subjects
are offered by very few students in the rural areas.Until all the children offer maths and
Science,the quality of education leaves much to be desired.EdUcation is effective only
when doctors, engineers and other prfessionals emerge from poor communities and serve
their own communities.In this regard,there's a lack of commitment from the educated
youth here as well as in Kerala.
It will take hundreds of pages to write about the similarities between Kerala and South
Africa,but I restrict myself to one thing more because it's linked to education.It's what we
call '' marku danam' or 'free marks' given to students in public exams.Here it's called 'mahala'.
The authorities do this annual stunt to cover up lapses in education,and to hoodwink the
public to believe that all is well with education.
Forgive me when I deviate a bit and mention a similarity between Kerala and South Africa.
In Kerala,the KSEB and here ESKOM are the electricity companies respectively.Nowadays
I hear Eskom's advice to the people,over the radio, about the need to use electricity sparingly,
to switch off unnecessary lights,to use blankets instead of heaters etc etc.In today's Citizen
newspaper there's a report that in the Johannesburg area alone this year,about 1 billion Rands
have been lost by Eskom due to illegal connections, faulty metres,electricity theft,faulty
billing etc.In Kerala,we saw how electricity is wasted in the mansions of the ministers.
The conclusion is: Third World countries are far from one another in terms of thousands
of kms,but the attitudes, styles of functioning,problems etc are the same.
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