HR Pulse

Motshekga lauds Sadtu’s efforts

Speaking at a congress of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) in Boksburg on Thursday, basic education minister – Angie Motshekga – praised the union's efforts, saying that "progress" has been made towards the "universal coverage" of South African school-going children. It's not enough to have school children being provided with 'some sort' of education. If we're going to uplift our nation and shrink unemployment, the standard of education is going to have to be improved – fast.

In an article on News24, Motshekga is quoted as saying the following: "We have made progress towards universal coverage of school-going children... We have progressively worked towards eliminating mud schools and inappropriate school structures, replacing them with state-of-the-art buildings."

Yes, we have indeed made huge strides towards eliminating the apartheid legacy in our education system. However, we need to do more – as Partners for Possibility (PfP) patron, Professor Brian O'Connell: rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Western Cape, says: "It is clear that we all underestimate just how deeply our history has hurt people and institutions but if our country is to have any chance of transcending that hurt and if our people are to take full ownership of our future then our schools must lead the way."

PfP's bold vision is to have quality education for all children in South Africa by 2022, which is a vision that the South African government needs to take on board and actively promote. However, this won't be possible if we remain content with "adequate coverage" in education.

Lia Marus is the editor of HR Pulse. She has a BA in French, Italian and Linguistics from UCT, an MA in translation from Wits and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Wits Business School. She is currently studying towards her LLB through Unisa. Lia started her career off in corporate communications, where she worked as a sub-editor, researcher and marketing coordinator. She then heeded the call of the publishing world and went into the business-to-business publishing field. She worked as a sub-editor as well as a chief sub-editor. Before joining ITWeb, she managed an HR guidebook at a leading international publishing company.