Parents and education

GUEST EDITORIAL: ANNE BAKER

South African education is currently in crisis. Children cannot read or do maths at the levels they should. Schools in some provinces are without books long after the school year begins, scholar transport is unreliable, and fewer young people complete grade 12.

What can and should Catholics do about this?

The Catholic Church has always believed that parents are the first and most important educators of their children. Because parents give life to their children they are also obliged to see that they are educated.

Parents, therefore, enter into meaningful partnerships with others to provide this education, and they deserve to be consulted about and to contribute to their children’s education. The Church also urges citizens to take part in civic life in order to improve life for others—to serve the common good.

These two matters—Catholic parents’ responsibility to see that their children are educated, and their obligation as citizens to take part in civic life—mean that Catholic parents in South Africa whose children attend state schools have a right and duty to call for change in how their children are educated.

There are thousands of Catholic parents with children in state schools. One of the ways these parents can begin to make a difference is to vote in the school governing body (SGB) elections. They can also stand for election on governing bodies and use their passion for what is good for the children, and their skills, to hold school personnel and the government to account.

Every parent or guardian of a child at school is entitled to stand for election and to vote. Once the SGB is elected, it is obliged by law to report to parents annually.

Even if parents do not serve on the SGB, they can become involved in the schools in a variety of ways, be it a state, private or Catholic school.

They can do so by helping to raise funds through events, by assisting when asked, by working in the school vegetable garden if one exists. Most importantly, they can do so by being a positive support to the school.

The most important activity for parents is to demand what is right for their children. They must demand enough teachers in school, resources to support teaching and learning, sound maintenance, safe facilities and scholar transport.

For too long parents have been silent partners in education. Working together with the other stakeholders in education, they can bring about meaningful change by demanding accountability at all levels of the school system.

Let’s stand up as Catholics and make our voices heard.

The Catholic Institute of Education, the education arm of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, is involved in advocating and challenging—but the ordinary voices of parents, making their needs known in a peaceful challenging manner, has immense power.

Anne Baker is the deputy director of the Catholic Institute of Education.