Call to nationalise private schools

A group of young people calling itself the #NationalisePrivateSchools National Task Team has called for the nationalisation of private schools and “commodification” of education.

In a statement on Saturday‚ the group said that a dual education system allowing the existence of both private schools and public schools “gives children of the rich minority an unfair advantage to achieve better results and stand a chance of getting better jobs and starting successful businesses than the millions of young people from poor backgrounds who are subjected to public schools”.

“In a country that claims to ensure equality amongst all its citizens selling better education to those who can afford to pay and giving poor quality education to those who can't pay should be foreign‚” it stated.

The #NationalisePrivateSchools campaign charged that the Department of Basic Education had failed to ensure that public schools offered the same level of education as that being offered in private schools.

“Therefore as young people we can no longer be subjected to an education system that says to us 'forget all your skills and talents and focus on learning so you can work for someone else'. We believe a uniform education system will force the government to comply with the Norms and Standards of Schools as stated in the South African Schools Act.

“The recent incidents of racism in private schools are an indication that these former Model C schools have not transformed and still give a message that those born in rich families are superior than those of us from disadvantaged backgrounds. The government should directly have control over what is being taught to its young people and the privatisation of education makes it hard to do so‚” the statement read.