Today I worked at the wonderland pre-school with kids between the ages of 4 and 6 trying to teach them English words and helping them to learn left from right. Education is not free in South Africa and parents must pay to send their children to school right through from pre-school to university. The fees vary depending on the school with some of the better schools being very expensive. This makes it incredibly difficult for kids living in the township to get a proper education.
Unemployment here is very high at roughly 25%, and those kids whose parents don’t work or don’t earn enough to pay their school fees can’t get a proper education…which makes it even more unlikely that these children will be able to get a proper job to support themselves and their own family when they get older. School fees could be anything from £40 to £150 per month and someone with a reasonably good office job in the town centre might earn £400 a month so school fees could be a big chunk of your income, especially if you have more than one child. A lot of families in the township just can’t afford the fees. I think that providing a free education would make a massive difference to reducing poverty in South Africa.
Some of the teachers at the pre-schools in the township have come to an agreement with parents who are on a low income that they can pay in another way – either through carrying out maintenance work at the school or donations of food, sometimes even donations of animals like chickens, cows or pigs. This small gesture helps the poorest to get a good start to their education.
No comments:
Post a Comment