A talk delivered at PEU Mass Rally in Mabopane on 21st April 2001 by Mosibudi Mangena -Deputy Minister of Education.

In our country, political rallies are common place. We need them to agitate and mobilise one another for this or the other political goal. We do, to a lesser extend, and come to hear of religious rallies. But to me at least, it is the first time I hear of an educational rally, let alone attend one.

The idea of an educational rally is as intriguing as it is refreshing and welcome. We need to agitate for education and mobilise one another to solve the problems that attend our education. Our education system suffers from multiple illnesses that range from the legacy of racism and oppression to unhealthy attitudes on the part of many of us, especially those of us who stay in townships and villages.

This contribution to your rally will concentrate on Black people in particular, because it is them who are hard hit by these illnesses in education. While there are acute problems of funding, we ourselves exacerbate these problems by our attitudes and actions. 

Our struggle for freedom, centred as it was around young people and our schools, has had the lingering, undesirable and unintended consequence of undermining authority and the line of command in our education system. 

The original and legitimate intention to undermine the tyrannical authority exercised over us by the racist regime and its many tentacles, has degenerated to a level where every notion of authority is resisted and subverted.

The worst thing is that those who are in positions of authority and responsibility are timid or even afraid to exercise that responsibility because they might become unpopular, targeted and have campaigns waged against them. The result is that officials at different levels are afraid to insist that things be done the right way, principals are afraid of their staff and the staff is afraid of the kids.

Some who did not like the new culture of fear and chaos took packages and left. Unionism is supposed to be a progressive and noble thing, which forms an essential element of a democratic society. As a people we fought hard and some in our ranks died to secure unionism for ourselves. There is widespread feeling among many of our people that in education unionism is used to protect laziness, dereliction of duty, dishonesty and irresponsibility.

Because of these two factors, Black parents have lost confidence in the majority of Black teachers and in schools run by Blacks. Those who have an extra cent to spend are voting with their feet. They cart their children out of the townships each morning to be taught elsewhere by white teachers who do not toyi-toyi at all, or at least not as much. 

Ironically, Black teachers pass a vote of no confidence in themselves by sending their own children away to be taught by white teachers.

In Pietersburg, where I stay, I have been told that Black parents who have their children in former model C schools, resist the introduction of African languages because that might bring Black teachers into those schools. They claim they cannot subject their children to Black teachers from whom they escaped in the townships and villages. For those of us who are from the Black Consciousness School, this phenomenon is excruciatingly painful. It reinforces the racist message that Black teachers, and therefore Black people, are inferior.

It tells our children that their mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts and neighbours who are teachers, are good for nothing. It says you can only get a good education if you are taught by whites. Children may not be able to articulate it, but it will certainly sink into their psyche that Black people, and by extension themselves, as Black children, are inferior. 

This will be further reinforced by the fact that all the people they see in positions of authority at school, their role models, are white, while the only Black people they see at their schools are gardeners, cleaners and messengers. This must cause enormous damage to their psychology and the image of their race.

In the end, this is a big blow against non-racialism in our country. You cannot build non-racialism on a foundation of inferiority and superiority complexes. The painful thing is that it is all so false. I should know. I was taught by Black and white teachers at high school. They are good or they are bad teachers, not by race, but as individuals. 

I have two children taught by Black teachers in Harare and here at home. The younger one passed matric with four A's two B's and a C at Pax School two years ago under the tutelage of mainly Black teachers. It is a gigantic myth that Black teachers are any less capable than their white counterparts. A teacher is a teacher is a teacher is a teacher. Finish and klaar.

Teachers do not only impart knowledge to youngsters in a mechanical way. Teachers are not like a website. They also help to mould the young morally and physically. My teachers gave me values, discipline, respect, a love for books and reading. Because the African teachers understood me better in terms of culture and so on, they were better able to guide me in a manner that made me what I am today. 

Whenever I think of Mothiba in Pietersburg, Mashiane, Masupye, Ramokgopa, Ngoasheng and others in Wallmanthal, I cannot but bow my head in reverence to those teachers.

This goes to show that as teachers you have enormous power and influence. You can make or destroy the lives of young people. You are a crucial element in the future of the youth and of this country. A lot hinges on you and your actions. If you decide that there shall be discipline, punctuality, respect, learning and teaching, indeed it will happen. 

That's why you are spot on when you declare that you are a treasure of learning and teaching environment. Those of your number who took those decisions at Mbilwi, Bokamoso, Aha-Thuto, Leshata and others demonstrate this fact for all to see. And when you do, parents queue at your gates to surrender their children to you.

Presently, less than 1% of Black children pass Mathematics at Higher Grade in Matric. That is a disaster and a national crisis. We know that if you as a treasure of teaching and learning decide that this situation be corrected, it will indeed be corrected. Many of our parents and communities are indifferent toward schools in their midst, not protecting them against vandals. 

Because as teachers you have this huge potential influence in communities, if you decide to mobilise these parents around the schools, you are likely to succeed.

Some of us know that the teaching profession has taken a battering in recent years. We know that certain things have suggested that teaching is devalued, and that such things have eroded the morale of teachers. But we also know that no nation can devalue its teachers, therefore its education, therefore the future of its children, and hope to survive in the modern world. 

So, let all of us protect the dignity, worth and image of the noble profession of teaching. After all, you are a treasure of teaching and learning environment in our country.

Ke a leboga!

Mosidibudi Mangena