President Zuma is not eligible to serve on UN educational panel
Given the destruction of the South African school system under the government of President Jacob Zuma, the DA believes he is not suitable to serve on the panel of the UN Secretary-General's Education First Initiative.
The Education Panel is entrusted with the responsibility of achieving 'quality, relevant and inclusive education for all'. The appointment is ironic, given that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) recently revealed in a briefing on Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals in South Africa that it is unlikely to achieve its quality targets.
The President has overseen a crumbling education system, characterized by failures to provide the right to basic education. Recent failures include:
Limpopo textbook crisis
Learners in Limpopo went without textbooks for more than half a year and a court ruled that the government was violating the basic human rights of its learners.
The President has had the Presidential Task Force report for almost two months and he is yet to hold those responsible accountable in a move to protect his political allies at the expense of quality education.
Large scale teacher vacancies
The government led by President Zuma is currently facing court action to force it to fill 64,752 teacher vacancies in the Eastern Cape. There is no plan to overcome the shortage of teachers.
Lack of basic education infrastructure
Learners are deprived of basic education facilities, with 22,938 schools not having adequate libraries, 21,021 having no laboratory facilities and 19,037 having no computer centres.
Disappointing quality of education
In the recent World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2012–2013, South Africa ranked 140 out of 144 countries on the quality of educational system indicator.
high repeater rate
Last year 1,231,083 learners had to repeat their grades.
Failure to effectively educate the majority of learners
Only 38% of all students starting in Grade 2 in 2001 matriculated in 2011.
The only value that President Zuma could possibly add to the education panel is to show the rest of the world how not to manage its education systems.
Statement issued by Annette Lovemore MP, DA Shadow Basic Education Minister, 26 September 2012
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