I hereby want to give my view based on the current situation of the teachers’ strike. Teachers were informed that the government cannot offer an 8 percent increment because our economical/financial status cannot currently cater for it.
Whether there is money in government coffers or not, I am not surprised because it is something that I am expecting now or in the future because of the type of education system that we have put in place.
Our system is more results driven than people development driven. We tried to improve our results for years now and still it is not working. We still produce a lot of Grade 10 failures and dropouts. We should ask ourselves where these dropouts are today. I am not saying that the ministry and other stakeholders are not doing anything. What I am saying is that we are moving in the wrong direction. The problem with our system is that it produces 20 percent of people who rule over 80 percent of the nation.
In other words 20 percent of people who make it through the system rule over the 80 percent who don’t. At the end of the day we have lords and servants divided instead of everyone being a lord and a servant at the same time.
Most of the people who make up the 80 percent do not live out their talent, skill or giftedness and many of them have turned to low-income labour, or unemployment.
A nation is only as strong as its people. If these people are not strengthened, a poor economic status is inevitable. What do I mean by strengthening people? Our perspective of education is not accurate. Education should not start externally but rather internally. It is good to go to school to discover new things but it is better to discover what you have inside first and every other information should be to aid what you have discovered inside.
The purpose of education is to discover what our learners have on the inside and create an environment to enhance their skills and talents. Once the person becomes competent in his skill, he becomes as asset to the government and society and no more a liability. A person without skills cannot make an income. Meaning a nation that does not make use of its skills is simply an economically poor nation. I do not believe that this is secret to my superiors. My question is: why are we continuing to do what will not work?
Ismael Ntopoli