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2 March 2004

'You are freedom's children

MEC for Education, Mr Ignatius Jacobs
Officials
Teachers
Parents
Boys and girls
Sanibonani, Dumelang, Good morning

As you all know, I am here because a courageous student from this school, Ida Mkhwanazi, wrote to Zola alerting him to some problems in the school. I hope my coming here will not encourage you to think that it is more effective to report your problems to the mass media instead of reporting them to Department of Education.

Remember, you now live in a free country, with a civil service governed by Batho Pele. So you should report your concerns to the provincial Department. If you are not getting help you are seeking, you can write to me or to the MEC.

Having said that, however, let me thank the SABC and Zola for bringing the situation in this school to my and the MECs attention.

I am not here to scold you or to talk badly about you. I am here to encourage you, to motivate you, and to give you a helping hand.

Everything I say here this morning is based on what I have read in reports from district officials and what the principal has told me. Therefore, I am speaking to you, not on the basis of 'hearsay', but on the basis of truth. 'Veritas' being the name of your school, I cannot speak anything but the truth.

I would like to first address the students. My children, you may not always remember this, but you are freedom's children. You are the children of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. Unlike many generations before you, you are receiving your education in a free country.

But you should never take freedom for granted. In June 1976, the children of Soweto, the likes of Hector Peterson, laid down their lives so that you could live in a free country and enjoy the benefits of meaningful and quality education. Thousands of young people from across the length and breadth of this country made many sacrifices for you. The least you could do to pay tribute to these courageous young men and women is to value your education and to ensure that you realise dreams that they could not realise in their lifetimes.

In this regard, then, you have to work very hard and pay close attention your studies. While Government does the best it can to provide you with access to quality education, the ultimate responsibility to study and succeed rests with you. So with freedom, comes responsibility.

Also, when I meet you in the streets, I should be able to distinguish you from any other young person who does not go to school. It is your appearance and your behaviour that will enable me to see that you are truly a student of Veritas Secondary School. Therefore, you should always wear your uniform when you come to school. I know that not everyone can afford to buy uniform, in which case those who cannot afford should wear respectable clothes.

It is you, the students of Veritas, who should make your school the pride of Meadowlands, the pride of Soweto and of South Africa. When other children speak about students of Veritas, you should have no reason to be embarrassed. No one should speak about you as truants, as latecomers, as abusers of tobacco, alcohol and drugs, or as disrespectful children. Your good name, together with the good name of other children of freedom, is in your own hands. So protect your good name and protect your dignity.

When Ida Mkhwanazi said she did not believe that leaving the school for ex-Model C schools was a solution, she showed that she believed in the community and the Department of Education. She demonstrated that she had not lost hope that the school could be turned around. This is indeed a winning attitude. It is this attitude and this kind of determination that moved public education from being a cause of our despair to being a repository of hope.

To the principal and teachers, I would like to remind you that you are in loco parentis, that is, you act on behalf of parents during school hours. We entirely rely on you to nurture the precious gifts that our children. Therefore, you should treat the students as though they were your own children.

No loving and responsible parent would give his or her children anything but the best. And this is what we expect of the teachers as day parents. When you walk into school, students should look up to you and say "My dream is to be like my teacher". And let me tell you, you cannot achieve this through instilling fear in the students. You will succeed in building respect by force of example, by being respectable, being committed, being professional and being fair.

As a teacher, students should always look forward to your lessons. Not because you let them do as they please, but because you inspire them and, as the preamble to our Constitution says, you free their potential to be responsible, knowledgeable, successful, and free citizens.

Your school was once among those that achieved a Senior Certificate pass rate of below 20%. This was the case in 1999. It was therefore pleasing to see that you are no longer in this category of dysfunctional schools. You improved to 31% in 2001 and 52% in 2002. You had establish a trend of improving your results, but this trend was reversed last year, with a 45% pass rate, and with no one passing with matriculation endorsement.

I urge you to work harder this year, and ensure that you continue to improve. You should not only improve your pass rate, but you should also ensure that some students pass with endorsement so that they can go to university.

I would also like to urge parents to participate actively in the running of the school. Teachers, on their own, cannot turn the school around. Without parental support, children cannot succeed either. Teachers need parents to ensure that students do their homework and study at home.

I was disturbed to hear that gangs have often come into the school and caused disruptions. This is totally unacceptable, and parents, teachers and students have to work together with the local police to stop outsiders from disrupting the education of our children.

Nothing can defeat a community working together. In the spirit of Tirisano, you should stand together to reclaim your school and your children's destiny, and to secure a better future for these children of freedom.

Siyabonga
Re a leboga
Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Education
2 March 2004

Source: Department of Education (http://education.pwv.gov.za)