Wastage of education time unacceptable

NO wonder the education of our children is failing.

There is such a hullabaloo and outcry at the beginning of each year to get the education of our children started punctually so that we can overcome the failures of the previous year.

Yet come the end of the year, the education of our children comes to a dead stop two or three weeks before schools are scheduled to close.

In some cases certain schools closed as early as 24 October this year.

Why is this happening?

The answer is simple – and so is the solution.

The Department of Education (DoE) not only allows this, but they condone it and even demand it by requiring that schools submit their progress schedules earlier and earlier each year.

This in turn means that schools have to start their final examinations earlier and earlier, then keep the children entertained for the rest of the school year. This results in a very high percentage of absenteeism.

In the past teachers were required to spend a full week at school after the children had left. This enabled teaching, learning and examining to continue right up until the last school day for the children.

The teachers then had a full week to do their marking, assessing and reporting, uninterrupted by bored, distracted children who had no real reason to be at school.

Let us call upon the Premier of KZN, Senzo Mchunu, to instruct his MEC for Education to investigate this frustrating waste of teaching and learning time and give our children the education that is rightfully theirs.

YES. IT IS ME!