"South African children receive schooling of a significantly poorer quality than pupils in many of our much poorer neighbouring countries"
[WS:] He asserts that, but he does not prove it.
T: Well I'm glad you're taking some interest in SA education, although you are mistaken if you are trying to claim that the situation here is nothing exceptional. Seeing as you raised interesting methodological questions about the last study I posted, here is another. Then below it is another newspaper article on a talk by a leftish educationist that I happen to know. And below that is an open letter to the president from a senior educationist with at least a good track record of anti-apartheid type activism.
http://www.ajol.info/index.php/saje/article/viewFile/25068/20738.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article854717.ece/Education-system-a-scandal
I know of no credible commentator in SA who believes that teacher salaries is the main factor bringing down the standard of our education to its abysmal level.
One thing, believe it or not, that we might be in agreement about is the issue of the number of teachers relative to their students, and hence their workloads. I gather from some of your remarks that this is actually your concern too. I share it totally as someone who was once a school teacher for my many sins.
The unfair workloads is of course an issue of capitalism, its continuing crisis worldwide and consequent under-budgeting for schools.
But, far from teacher salaries being the only issue in SA, raising them without changing anything else would be an act of something akin to lunacy.
Tahir
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