Changing education from the ground up

There is no doubt that education has been used as a tool of marginalisation through high stakes accountability, privatisation and a destructive language of learning.

Education continues to be threatened on a global scale by forces of neoliberalism.

In determining what should be taught in our schools, there must be a clear understanding of the nature and purpose of education, working backwards from the vision of what kind of society and global order we desire and then using education as part of the roadmap to take us there.

As the conversation continues regarding the relevance of schooling to the national development agenda, it is necessary to understand and admit that the current model, premised on the concept of competition rather than collaboration, is failing us as a society. It is based on an underlying principle that some must fail to validate the superiority of others.

This model continues to allow education to be a formula of segregation and division. While this formula may be ideally suited to the neoliberal capitalist economic model, unfortunately the fallout includes the exclusion and marginalisation of large segments of the society. Those who graduate from our schools with certificates of hopelessness and despair unleash their anger via social unrest and civil disobedience, for this is the avenue through which societal revenge can be exacted.

An education system that forces people to fit the model rather than enabling the model to adjust to the needs of people cannot conceivably claim to serve the needs of the whole society.

If the objective of education is the development of the total human capital, the concept of educational success must be redefined within the concept of the uniqueness of learners.

If education is to truly be a social equaliser, there must be a greater effort to dismantle our current elitist model, characterised by success for a minority, to one that recognises the worth of all learners, regardless of their cognitive ability or socio-economic background.

Anytime educational opportunity is viewed as irrelevant and meaningless by large sectors of the society, such a dysfunctional arrangement will imperil the very future of the nation.

The large numbers of young people who continue to unsuccessfully graduate from our educational institutions on an annual basis should be a sufficient catalyst for the total overhaul of our existing arrangement.

The levels of crime and criminality evident throughout the nation are a direct result of an education system that continues to fail thousands of young people. Their inability to advance their status and add value to their own lives upon completion of 12 years of schooling is a strong indictment against the educational status quo.

Equality of opportunity without equity translates into lost human development potential and eventually social disorder. This has become our current reality. Our capacity to achieve the sustainable development goals will be severely hampered once we persist with the existing educational arrangement.

Unfortunately, the retention of the status quo benefits some sectors of the society and unless the political will is garnered to ignore this powerful lobby, our country will continue to suffer the negative fallout of proudly certifying thousands of young people on an annual basis as failures.

As many commentators have reminded, such radical societal change can only come from the bottom. The proverbial ball on this one lies in the hands of the masses, led by teachers, if only we understand the power we