Lt L'(u ( C
n yesha Kasiitm, Oaily'Xer"i; S.o.11t1 lfrlii
rfhe Departmenr ol Education
I tclebrated 10 years
ofthe
ffansformation of education witir the
laur-ich of a high school history book
series aimed at creating, an African
l,ieu, of the country's past.
Tl-re series, Turning Poi?,tts, was
initiated by the Insrirure forJustice
ancl Reconciliation as part of its
Reconciliation and Social
Reconstruction Programme. High
scl-rools nationwide will each receive
eight rrolumes, u.ritten by South
African scholars.
At the launch in Cape Town,
Education Minister Kader Asmal gaid:
Wc jrrherjted an education sysrem
frorrr apartheid that caused serious
danage.
"Tl-re Bantu education
systenr was a system that
disablcd our people. denying
then the opportunity to be
part of society But we are starting
to build a iruly South African s,vsrem
that wlll enable us to teach the truth
about our history. For so long, the
BBC News, UK
[ "genuine cornprehensive s1 srem"
1 \is needed to improve pupils'
school performances, the leader of
Britain's biggest teachers' union
algues.
. Doug McAvoy, general secretary of
the Natior-ral Union of Teachers,
claimed specialisr scltools
tavoured by the government - in
England "work againsr the
diversiq, -ol all our young people,'. He
proposed Finland, which has reduced
its level of pupil
selection, as an
example for rhe UK to follow.
Mr X,ic{voy,s comments come
after the inteinational pISA
studv of
educationai achievement found
Finnish children
had the highest level
of literacy
in the world. In Britain,
:, : facts were deviously manipulated and
we need to look at the kind of
memory we are building for our
children. \7e need to build an
inclusive memory/ where the heroes
and heroines of the pasr belong not
only to certain sectors, but to us all.
Memory is identity and we cannot
have a divided identity."
Asmal fought back tears as he
spoke, saying he was proud o{.the
country's youth some of whom
performed at the- event
- u,ho were
the "frults of our freedom".
25o/oof children leave primary scl-rool
unable to read, write and count well.
Hall leaving secondary school in
England have fewer than five good
GCSES.
Mr Mc{voy toid a Londor-r
conference to discuss the PISA
findings: "Finnish schools have a high
degree of autonomir in teaching and
in tire curriculum. Finnish teacl-iers
have more say than their colleagues
in other countries in detern-rining
course content, establishing student
assessment policies, deciding u,hich
courses the school should offer and
ailocating budgets."
But the government is defending
its push towards more specialist
schools, which offer more teaching in
specific subjects such as science or
Extracts from the books by people
who had lived under the Bantu
education sYStem were read out,
recalling the inequalities of the
apartheid regime.
"In the (African) pasr, the hunrer
or the victor has always written our
history history that served the
hunter's-a interest. But now we want to
hear the lion's story Let Africa write
its own history because gur future is
an African future. And then, from our
own history we will work out our own
undersmnding of what it means to be
Afiican," he said.
Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer,
also present at tl-]e event, echoed
Asmal's words and reiterated the
importance of "unmasking the other
side of history". "But we need a
truly literate society Literacy is a
basic human right," she said.
Series co-ordinator Fanie du Toit
said: "The books are about reclaiming
our herimge and acknowledging the
often neglected voices of our past.
Keeping the memory alive will help
us in shaping the future."
languages. The School Srandards
Ministeq David Milliband, argued at
the conference that specialism
encouraged excellence and raised
general standards. Mr Milliband
accepted that PISA had shorvn
England had one of tl-re "most
unequal education systems in the
industrialised world".
"Far too many children who have
the brains and skills and potenrial to
succeed are not given the
opportunities to fulfil that potential,"
he said. "Vtrat is more, their 2ls no1
any old children, they are those least
Iikely to have a home background
that makes up for poor schooling.
They are born into disadvantage and
then condemned to it."