By Katlego Sekhu
The Basic Education Department has approached Cabinet asking for funding to hire an additional 16 000 teachers.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga revealed this when she was responding to parliamentary questions from IFP MP Siphosethu Ngcobo.
This sparked a conversation on 959 Breakfast with Dineo and Sol about whether “the current education system is still relevant in today’s world.”
Learners in a lot of schools are still taught the same curriculums as previous generations.
Many argue that half of the things they’ve learned in school are not practical in the real world.
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
Martin Luther King Jr
Sol Phenduka believes there is a big disconnect in the way kids are taught in schools.
“We are taught economics and we are not really taught about how to save money properly. I think there is a gap and a space where kids can be taught practical things they can use when they grow up.”
A listener says our education will improve if we all work together.
“Children should be taught in their home language. Our education system is still oppressing us as black people. That is why even today the unemployment rate is so high. Instead of fighting private schools that are still teaching in Afrikaans, why don’t we the money that’s been looted to improve our schools?”
Listen to the full conversation on the podcast:
