The situation at our schools is shocking, please help get children back to school

Jonathan Johnson writes that the situation at our schools is shocking, please help get children back to school picture : neil baynes

Jonathan Johnson writes that the situation at our schools is shocking, please help get children back to school picture : neil baynes

Published Jun 22, 2024

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Last year, I was walking through Ottery flats when I found two children, aged 9 and 10, walking with a woman during school hours. They were not attending school and they had no birth certificates.

Further down the road, I found another brother and sister, 7 and 10 years old, also not attending school. The girl dropped out 3 years ago and the mom just never bothered to enrol them.

After a while, I found some more children, aged 7, 8 and 9, who has never even seen the inside of a classroom.

With the parents’ permission, I applied, on their behalf, to the Western Cape Education Department. It was way past the deadline and it’s notoriously difficult to get a child re-enrolled when they have dropped out. But, through persistence, I managed to get six children enrolled for 2024.

Another shock came when I found out that the children were being placed in age-related grades, regardless of the fact that they could neither read nor write. That meant the 9-year-old went straight to Grade 2 and she couldn’t even read or write! I had to organise tutorial classes for them to help them catch up. s

On my journey, I also found two 15-year-olds, one of them in high school and the other in primary school, and they couldn’t write and read.

The situation at our schools is shocking.

However, due to financial restraints, I will be forced to suspend my activities and find a job if things don’t change soon. But the country, as a whole, needs this type of intervention. Education is the only way we are going to change the situation in our country. Yet it’s so hard finding support. Please help.

* Jonathan Johnson, Ottery.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

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