Mrs Qwelane, South Africa’s oldest educator with Prof LDM (Oupa) Lebeloane, Director of the School of Educational Studies, during the lecture on African Education systems of the past few generations.
Mrs. Nontsikelelo Qwelane, South Africa’s oldest teacher, delivered a thought provoking lecture at Unisa on the 22 of March 2013. The lecture was organized by the School of Educational Studies with an objective to reflect on the state of education in South Africa. Qwelane’s lecture focused on the education of black South Africans from the time of the missionary schools to the post- apartheid education system. She outlined the evolution of education systems in the country and their relationship to social, political and economic systems.
According to Gogo, as she is affectionately known by her students, education systems do not exist in a vacuum. The Slave education in the Western Cape during the time of the Dutch East India Company, the missionary education systems and the apartheid education system, all these systems had their own objectives and ideals. “During the time of the apartheid government the education of black people was purposely and deliberately impoverished” says Qwelane. However, The de Lange Commission of 1981, centered on the provision of the education for black in South Africa and was one of the efforts made by the government of the day to amend the wrongs of the past which were caused by the Bantu Education Law of 1953.
Mrs. Qwelane believes that efforts are being made currently to improve the syllabus, by means such as the introduction of National Curriculum Statement (NCS) and the new Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). She is also pleased by the fact that bursaries are now available to many academically deserving students. Gogo also acknowledged that even if the current syllabus was good, most teachers who are teachers of the new syllabus, are products of the apartheid syllabus.
It’s because people in power and people with influence (such as Gogo) keeps drudging up the Apartheid that we as a nation cannot ove forward. How can we look forward if you are always willing and forcing us to look back?
The Apartheid was bad, I agree. It happened and now it’s over. The people being punished for it under BEE and other government initiatives were not even involved in the decisions made under Apartheid.
Move on! Get over it! We all suffered under Apartheid. As a white child I had no benefits. I was also poor and hardly had food to eat every night. Move on, South Africa.
Build a bridge that will lead us to the future!