Educational Reform and Rural Schools

~Hannah Walker~ Throughout the course of our study of South Africa, education has remained a consistent theme. Despite all the exposure we had received prior to our trip through books, governmental papers, and documentaries nothing could prepare us for the first-hand experience of visiting two under-funded rural schools outside of Cape Town. The current educational situation in South Africa can only be understood through its historical context. The legacy of an extensive bureaucracy (the apartheid government had four separate education departments, one for each racial category) and racist policies have greatly impacted education reform in this country. Although the existing administration has attempted to increase funding to underdeveloped schoolsmost of which, by default of their location in rural areas, serve mainly Black South Africansthere remains resistance from other South Africans. A PhD student from Cape Town University of Technology who assisted with the university's program for under-funded schools was hesitant to fully support the government's policy; he expressed his concern that the currently thriving schools might begin to suffer if funding to them was redirected towards rural schools. Schools that are now thriving are mainly historically White institutions or HWIs, such as the University of Cape Town, and they continue to have a higher percentage of White students than Black students. This gap occurs in part because different segments of the population are receiving different educational experiences depending on the families' location. Although South Africa has many appearances of a postindustrialized society, the reality is that many of the rural areas still lack basic necessities such as sewage drains, drivable roads, and access to clean housing and water. Families that live in the rural areas might place a heavy Students at under-resourced rural school emphasis on education but do not have the adequate resources to send their Courtesy Photo / Nancy Lory children to the elementary schools that will put them on the track to attending a good high school and eventually furthering their education. (Public school requires a yearly fee for uniforms, supplies, etc. and the cost depends on location schools in towns are more expensive, schools in rural areas are less expensive.)

C Since governmental policy has taken so long to be implemented effectively, some colleges and universities, such as Cape Peninsula University of Technology, have started their own programs designed to help under-funded rural schools. To compare what the government deems as underresourced and under-funded, our guide, Professor Rajendra Chetty from CPUT, took us to two schools, both with students in grades R-8 (R being equivalent to kindergarten). The first was directly outside of Mowbray, the home of one of CPUT's branches. In comparison to schools I have seen in the United 1

States this school was not so different in the fact that technology, supplies, space, and other needed resources were greatly limited. What was different was how obvious these limitations were. There are few, if any, schools in the United States that consist of a trailer and a three-room buildinglacking any cafeteria or principle's officewith computers dating from the early 1990s. However discouraging their situation was, the children and teachers displayed a sense of pride in their country (similar to the pride we had witnessed elsewhere) and an endless optimism in the improvement of their settings. During the course of our visit we were able to watch the students while at recess, and during that time there was little to distinguish between the students at schools in the United States and this rural South African school. Amid the rundown buildings and trailers the children ran, laughed, and played just as they do at elementary schools across this country.

One of our students playing with a student from the under-funded school Courtesy Photo / Nancy Lory

The under-funded school we went to next displayed none of these characteristics. As we drove farther into the countryside the pavement ended and we continued on a rough dirt road. The schoolhouse consisted of a building and an outdoor lavatory, which apparently no longer worked. Upon entering the building we all noticed the moving layer of flies over everything. The children did not rush up to greet usdid not acknowledge us at allas children had done at the previous school and at all the other schools we had visited prior to this visit. As the principal explained the school's situation it became apparent that these children's lives were greatly affected by poverty and the problems associated with italcoholism, fetal alcohol syndrome, and malnourishment. Historically workers in the wine country of South Africa were paid with wine, which they consumed regularly and without knowledge of the harmful effects of alcohol during pregnancy. Today the parents of these children are still occasionally paid with wine instead of money and, with limited access to education, remain unaware of complications that occur from drinking during pregnancy. Most of the students only received one meal a day, the lunch provided by the school. The main language spoken was Afrikaans and we were unable to communicate, even nonverbally, with the students. The most disheartening part of the entire visit was the absence of childishness in the students; it appeared as though their harsh circumstances had already taken a significant toll on their spirits. There was no optimism there. Children riding their "bus" to school Courtesy Photo / Nancy Lory

As we pulled away from the school, all of us breathed a sigh of relief as we tried to shoo out the remaining flies from our van, glad to be moving away from the sadness behind us. As I wrote in my journal later on that night, I was happy I could get back in the van and drive away. For those children, that was their lives; there was no going away. In the end, despite all the accomplishments of the country, the socioeconomic placement of these childrenthe fact that the majority would probably never leave the countryside or continue their educationall still boiled down to the color of their skin. The vicious cycle of poverty for Black South Africans, traced back hundreds of years and cemented during apartheid, still replicates itself over and over again in the new South Africa. It will take many more years of new policy and on-the-ground work before these children's children will experience for themselves the promises laid out in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, guarantees of equality and quality of life that are currently denied to them.

Students from the under-resourced school Courtesy Photo / Nancy Lory