Peeling the orange: The challenge of communication and education in rural South Africa:

[Mpho]

I have been making observations on the current system of education in South Africa. In fact a day before yesterday a colleague of mine requested me to assist her with homework for her Grade Three son. The homework was on the nine planets of earth and the son had made Mars his planet of choice. The homework required one to give information on distance between Mars and the sun and other details. Although I am a Geographer with an Honours Degree, I had to search the Internet to get the answers since I could not remember the details. But, the question I had is how can rural kids and their parents work together to answer these questions on things like Mars with the challenge of accessing tools of communication like computers and the Internet technology. As far as I remember there is no commmunity library in the town of Thohoyandou in Limpopo where I come from that one can visit to get information. The questuion is: Is the current education system not going to widen the knowledge gap between urban and rural children? Is this not a way in which we are making rural kids to lag behind urban kids? To me this is like peeling the orange, leaving behind that is not needed or cannot easily fit in the modern way of living. How are children with illiterate parents going to cope with this demanding current system of education, also considering the fact that ABET seems to be in disarray? I think this matter needs our attention since it will determine the type of children that are going to be in charge of government and institutions in future. Are we not hampering the future participation of rural children in the economy, politics and other areas of life in South Afria?

[Ditshego]

I think the boom is for the rich. Poor people are still trapped in abject poverty. They are what Robert Chambers refers to when he speaks of rural poverty not being visible. You will not see this people in Johannesburg or Sandton city. They are found in areas were the local authority does not even have a fax machine.

Some people refers to South Africa as the United States of Africa, but the truth of the matter is that only few people are enjoying being part of the "State" . They are taking from the poor without giving back. The fact that we have three cellular companies indicate that the market is doing very well at the expense of the poor.

I feel that in South Africa we can't even begin to speak of internet as a tool for sustainable development. The fact that both of us are sharing ideas online does not mean that all members of the working class can afford to do so! Majority of us we also own laptops because we work for the government, otherwise we cannot afford to buy our own. We don't even own computers at home. We can only hope that our kids are exposed to computers at school hoping that a good Samaritan gave the school a donation.

[Mpho]

Yes, I completely agree with your notion. I think the challenge is also the fact that we are relying too much on borrowed technology which is very expensive and inaccessible combined with the worst charges on access to both cellular communication and internet access. Is the government serious about communication or it is more interested at economic growth at the expense of people. How can we be paying the highest charges for communication in a country where people do not have neither resources nor the means to communicate.

One author once wrote in the New Africa magazine: "It is boom time down South but, for whom?"

In China children at the age of four have access to laptops which is the envy of the working class in this country. Is this a good approach for people to participate in the economy, education and other areas in this knowledge era? Are we going to reach a stage where our educational results are on par with the results of white children in this country?

Without appropriate instruments, our educational system will continue to be as bad as the bantu education.

[Mpho]

Yes, I completely agree with your notion. I think the challenge is also the fact that we are relying too much on borrowed technology which is very expensive and inaccessible combined with the worst charges on access to both cellular communication and internet access. Is the government serious about communication or it is more interested at economic growth at the expense of people. How can we be paying the highest charges for communication in a country where people do not have neither resources nor the means to communicate.

One author once wrote in the New Africa magazine: "It is boom time down South but, for whom?"

In China children at the age of four have access to laptops which is the envy of the working class in this country. Is this a good approach for people to participate in the economy, education and other areas in this knowledge era? Are we going to reach a stage where our educational results are on par with the results of white children in this country?

Without appropriate instruments, our educational system will continue to be as bad as the bantu education.

[Ditshego]

I think the gap will continue to widen. The problem is that the government is good in putting new systems such as Outcome Based Education education without support for effective implementation. I think everyone agrees that OBE is a good intervention, but it serves no purpose if teachers, parents and kids cannot participate equally with their counterparts in Urban areas. If parents have to rely on internet to assist their children with school work it implies that majority of rural area children will not benefit from the current education system. I mean if you have a post graduate in Geography and still couldn't help your friend without referring to the internet, how do we expect our rural parents who are illiterate to participate in the education of their kids. The government has a strategy on Information Society and Development Plan and Implementation Strategy. What seems to be lacking is making sure that resources are available. I agree with the concept of private public partnerships but we cannot hope that the information and technology gap will be bridged through patchy donations of computers to schools.