Johannesburg - ‘Our education system is like Irish coffee: black at the bottom, white on top with sprinkles of chocolate on the foam.”
This is what Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi told The Star about the lingering apartheid representation of our schooling system in Gauteng and the country.
“We need to break those barriers. If I fail to do it, I will resign,” Lesufi said.
He was justifying his decision to twin some of the schools in Gauteng as a precursor to achieving truly non-racial schooling representation.
Lesufi announced that 14 schools would pilot the twinning programme.
The project’s intention is to twin well-resourced schools with poor schools. The 14 schools (seven pairs) to take part in the experiment from February have been identified (see box below).
At this stage, these schools will only share a governing body and infrastructure such as libraries and sports facilities.
Lesufi said the outcome of the pilot project would determine how the department continued with the programme from 2016 onwards.
He first spoke of his plans to merge or twin schools soon after his appointment as the MEC in May this year, saying he wouldn’t “preside over a tweaked apartheid education system”.
He said the school-twinning programme aimed to improve academic performance by enabling schools to share their infrastructure and the skills set on the leadership and school governing body level.
Lesufi said politics had nothing to do with it and contrary to some of the concerns that had been raised, he was not targeting Afrikaans schools.
“Some are saying I’m targeting Afrikaans schools. I’m not. It’s just that the best-performing schools happen to be Afrikaans-speaking schools,” he said.
“I can advertise a post for a principal at Orlando High where I need the best principal the country can offer.
“Do you think an Afrikaner white male teacher will apply for that post? No.
“You’ll never attract the best to be leaders of township schools and that’s where the majority of learners are.
“You’ll never get the best of what the country can offer where it’s needed,” Lesufi said.
“This is about getting the best educators and the best leaders to teach where there is a need,” he said, adding that the information and communications technology facilities would enable a teacher’s lesson in one school to be streamed to the pupils in another.
Lesufi said it was the same case with governing bodies where skills were currently concentrated in certain types of schools.
“Show me a judge that is a school governing body member in a township school. There’s no one.
“But go to former model C schools, you’ve got chartered accountants, you’ve got judges, so to take the entire country out of the quagmire in terms of education, we need to share the skills and best use the skills that are available within the sector,” he said.
On the schools’ sharing infrastructure, Lesufi said: “I don’t have the funds to build a swimming pool at Alexandra High.
“I don’t have the resources to build a cricket field at Tembisa High.
“A school that does not have a laboratory now will not have a laboratory in the next three years.
“The libraries that are built now are coming with the new schools, so we have to share the resources.
“All these resources belong to South Africans. They don’t belong to one race - they’re maintained by the state,” he said.
Lesufi said he was satisfied that the department consulted extensively about its plans.
“I’ve met with all school governing bodies, not associations, the school governing bodies; I’ve met with all the principals and deputy principals; I’ve met with all the teacher unions and, in all my meetings, this plan was unanimously adopted,” he said.
Lesufi said some schools had even come up with their own suggestions on how the twinning school could be structured.
In some cases, schools that were not approached for the process have put their names into the hat.
Lesufi said if the department had done all it could to address concerns and schools still refused to take part in the process, he would have no qualms about taking them to court.
“If needs be, if a school refuses to be part of this process, I’ll not hesitate to take that school to court. But that’s a last resort,” he said.
“If there’s resistance and it’s based on valid reasons, I’m open-minded. I’ll listen. But if it’s based on historical prejudice and things we honestly can’t continue to defend after 20 years of democracy, I’ve set aside a substantial amount of money to go to the highest court,” Lesufi said.
“I feel that for us to solve the challenges of education, it must not be the state alone.
“We need the talent of parents in school governing bodies, we need the best resources available in the country to deal with the challenges,” he said.
“I want to dispel the fallacy that if you merge with a poor school, the poor school will take the money of the rich school.
“Each and every school is given an allowance by the department - more than what parents are paying - so the school is bringing their money.”
Lesufi said everyone rushed to a minority of good schools. He said if this unsustainable trend continued, the entire system would collapse.
“Those who oppose this process will say ‘fix township schools first’. This is the process of fixing them.
“All of us have to contribute to fixing them; it must not be certain people who must fix the problem. All of us must contribute to the success of our education,” he said.
Progress report on framework
* Desktop research was conducted both inside and outside the country to check if twinning has been implemented.
* In South Africa, there are only examples of collaboration.
* The legislative framework was carefully analysed and it emerged that the vision could be realised through the implementation of either Section 12(a) or 17 of the South African Schools Act 84 (Sasa) of 1996.
* The department adopted Section 17 of the Sasa 84 of 1996, which provides that the Member of Executive Council of Education may determine that the governance of two or more public schools must vest in a single governing body if it is in the interests of education at the schools in question.
* Approved by the departmental management structures and cabinet.
14 identified for pilot
* Laërskool Jan van Riebeeck and Payneville Primary School in Springs.
* Hoërskool Waterkloof and Mamelodi Secondary School in Pretoria.
* Laërskool Kruinsig and Tlamatlama Primary School (Kempton Park and Tembisa).
* Hoërskool Noordheuwel and Kagiso Secondary in Krugersdorp.
* Sandown High School and Alexandra High School, Joburg.
* Hoërskool Kempton Park and Boitumelong Secondary.
* Vereeniging Gimnasium and Phoenix High School.
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