Schools Must Aid Healing

Guest Editorial by  Mduduzi Qwabe- During the days of apartheid, one of the propaganda tools used by the administration was the national school curriculum.

In the current climate of racial unease, the case for “decolonising the curriculum”—an apt phrase used by Brian Kamanzi in the Daily Maverick — has never been more urgent than it is now. Yet, since the curriculum has changed too many times since 1994, the mention of more change makes teachers want to head for the hills.

South African schools — Catholic, state, private — need to provide spaces for children to learn about our country’s unhappy past and then to get to know learners of other races, in a meaningful way.

This applies to children of all race groups as racial integration is a challenge for all children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of apartheid.

Days like Human Rights Day, Freedom Day, Youth Day and Heritage Day are opportunities for learners to engage with diversity.

Excursions to places like Constitution Hill in Gauteng, Robben Island in the Western Cape, the Nelson Mandela Museum in the Eastern Cape, and the Mandela Capture Site in KwaZulu-Natal ought to be part of the school calendar.

Extracurricular activities such as debates must endeavour to open spaces for frank discussions. Spaces and opportunities should be provided for children to interact beyond the confines of school.

Catholic schools have the added advantage of teaching Religious Education, during which learners are taught about the dignity of the human person.

And schools must strive to have a racial balance in personnel to mirror the society we envisage.

It has to become a conscious effort from schools to deal with racism effectively. Our quest for social justice and racial integration demands of us that we be true to the values of our Constitution, which many have labelled progressive.

The psychological damage caused by apartheid to black, white and people of all races in South Africa cannot be underestimated. Schools are the ideal place to advocate for change.

Mduduzi Qwabe is a policy researcher at the Institute for Catholic Education.