hannah walker- rural schools

8/4/2019 Hannah Walker- Rural Schools

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Educational Reform and Rural Schools

~Hannah Walker~

Throughout the course of our study of South Africa, education has remained a consistenttheme. Despite all the exposure we had received prior to our trip through books, governmentalpapers, and documentaries nothing could prepare us for the first-hand experience of visiting twounder-funded rural schools outside of Cape Town. The current educational situation in South Africacan only be understood through its historical context.

The legacy of an extensive bureaucracy (the apartheid government had four separateeducation departments, one for each racial category) and racist policies have greatly impactededucation reform in this country. Although the existing administration has attempted to increasefunding to underdeveloped schoolsmost of which, by default of their location in rural areas, servemainly Black South Africansthere remains resistance from other South Africans. A PhD student fromCape Town University of Technology who assisted with the university's program for under-fundedschools 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 ruralschools.

Schools that are now thriving are mainly historically White institutions or HWIs, such as theUniversity of Cape Town, and theycontinue to have a higher percentage ofWhite students than Black students.This gap occurs in part becausedifferent segments of the populationare receiving different educationalexperiences depending on the families'location. Although South Africa hasmany appearances of a post-industrialized society, the reality is thatmany of the rural areas still lack basicnecessities such as sewage drains,drivable roads, and access to cleanhousing and water. Families that live inthe rural areas might place a heavyemphasis on education but do not havethe adequate resources to send theirchildren 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 locationschools in towns are more expensive, schools in rural areas are less expensive.)

Since governmental policy has taken so long to be implemented effectively, some colleges anduniversities, such as Cape Peninsula University of Technology, have started their own programsdesigned to help under-funded rural schools. To compare what the government deems as under-resourced 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 ofMowbray, the home of one of CPUT's branches. In comparison to schools I have seen in the United

Students at under-resourced rural school

Courtes Photo / Nanc Lor


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States this school was not so different in the fact that technology, supplies, space, and other neededresources were greatly limited. What was different was how obvious these limitations were. There arefew, 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 situationwas, the children and teachers displayed a

sense of pride in their country (similar tothe pride we had witnessed elsewhere) andan endless optimism in the improvement oftheir settings. During the course of our visitwe were able to watch the students whileat recess, and during that time there waslittle to distinguish between the students atschools in the United States and this ruralSouth African school. Amid the rundownbuildings and trailers the children ran,laughed, and played just as they do at

elementary schools across this country.

The under-funded school we wentto next displayed none of these characteristics. As we drove farther into the countryside the pavementended and we continued on a rough dirt road. The schoolhouse consisted of a building and anoutdoor lavatory, which apparently no longer worked. Upon entering the building we all noticed themoving layer of flies over everything. The children did not rush up to greet usdid not acknowledgeus at allas children had done at the previous school and at all the other schools we had visited priorto this visit.

As the principal explained the school's situation it became apparent that these children's liveswere 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 paidwith wine, which they consumed regularly and without knowledge of the harmful effects of alcohol

during pregnancy. Today the parents ofthese children are still occasionally paid withwine instead of money and, with limitedaccess to education, remain unaware ofcomplications that occur from drinkingduring pregnancy. Most of the students onlyreceived one meal a day, the lunch providedby the school. The main language spokenwas Afrikaans and we were unable to

communicate, even nonverbally, with thestudents. The most disheartening part of theentire visit was the absence of childishnessin the students; it appeared as though theirharsh circumstances had already taken asignificant toll on their spirits. There was nooptimism there.

One of our students playing with a student from the

under-funded school


Children riding their "bus" to school


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As we pulled away from the school, all of us breathed a sigh of relief as we tried to shoo outthe remaining flies from our van, glad to be moving away from the sadness behind us. As I wrote inmy journal later on that night, I was happy I could get back in the van and drive away. For thosechildren, that was their lives; there was no going away. In the end, despite all the accomplishmentsof the country, the socioeconomic placement

of these childrenthe fact that the majoritywould probably never leave the countrysideor continue their educationall still boileddown to the color of their skin. The viciouscycle of poverty for Black South Africans,traced back hundreds of years and cementedduring apartheid, still replicates itself overand over again in the new South Africa. Itwill take many more years of new policy andon-the-ground work before these children'schildren will experience for themselves the

promises laid out in the Constitution and Billof Rights, guarantees of equality and qualityof life that are currently denied to them.

Students from the under-resourced school


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