Quality Education Must Be Accessible To Everyone
students, Theo Ketchum, a member of the town’s governing board, says students in the school have “the core support that others did not have. I put my head on the block. They are going to do well.” Ketchum’s belief is what drives Priscilla. “ (My family) believes that I can do better than what other members of the family have done. And I want to prove to them I can do better and I will do better,” she said. Nonetheless, Priscilla has had quite a difficult living situation. we were in school, we did not have By Jon Haywood She lives with her 64-yearaccess to all of this kind of stuff.” Rugby is a man’s game. old grandmother and 65-year-old Olifant, a soft-spoken member of At least that is the thought around grandfather, three cousins and her the Ikwezi Youth Development Forum, most of the world. But do not let younger brother. Her grandfather suffers completed secondary school in 2002. Klipplaat Secondary School student from a serious bladder condition. The community of Klipplaat did not have Priscilla Grootboom hear that. Both grandparents work jobs in town, Internet access until 2009, many years Every day after school, Priscilla spends but how much longer her grandfather later than developed in South Africa. hours practicing with her rugby club. She will be able to continue worries her. Now with Internet access and says women’s rugby is not as intense as Priscilla’s mother is a domestic worker added attention from the government, men’s rugby, but she loves it because of the in Port Elizabeth, and her father works Olifant said students simply need to opportunities to advance to various levels. in George. She admits it is challenging work harder to complete school. That drive and determination has living away from her parents. Even with attention from community propelled her to compete in the Eastern “There are things you want to talk with and government programs, many learners Cape Conference for rugby — not an easy your parents about that you can’t talk in rural South Africa face a host of feat for a secondary school student. about with your grandparents,” she said. challenges. Many suffer from extreme Priscilla has used that same Priscilla’s cousin, 18-year-old Zane, is poverty and some have to manage drive to become one of Klipplaat only in Grade 10. He is repeating Grade 10 households after parents have died. Secondary’s top students. for the second year in a row. She believes In most small communities in South A year before our visit, every student in he is struggling in school because he is still Africa, households suffer from food the school’s senior class had failed the trial suffering from the death of his mother. insecurity (the lack of the right types of exam, the exam necessary to graduate and Her grandparents see her as a sort of food) and the displacement of individual move on to schools beyond the high school guiding light for her cousins. With Zane members of families, according to a 2011 level. The trial exam and the control test struggling through high school and three study by the journal “Ecology and Society.” lead to the National Senior Certificate. much younger children grappling with “Addressing hunger and food scarcity will The NSC “not only signifies the living away from their parents, Priscilla increase students’ attention span. Hungry culmination of 12 years of formal schooling, feels responsibility to help the cousins. kids don’t concentrate,” said Levack. but the NSC examination is one of the key Priscilla plans to attend university Despite the serious issues facing the barometers to indicate the state of health soon with the help of scholarships. of the education system,” Of the young people in according to South Africa’s Grade 12, Ketchum said, “For Department of Basic Education. the first time in a few years, Bradley Levack, a I’m feeling really confidant.” developmental practitioner for The concern for the children the municipality of Ikwezi, and families of Klipplaat is which includes Klipplaat, evident with everyone you talk said, “Education can only be to. Community members and improved if the government volunteers seriously want better delivers on its mandate to outcomes for the children. make quality education Levack believes the children accessible to everyone.” must understand that they, The seriousness of students ultimately, have the greatest and parents is essential, control over the outcomes of their lives and the people said Johannes Olifant, a of their community. community organizer. Photo by Chris Allen “My hope is for them to “They have access to The architecture of Port Elizabeth is diverse and not always well maintained. The understand love,” he said. everything,” he said. “When same can be said for the educational system of South Africa.
Children have the greatest control of the outcomes of their lives.
2013 Reflections on Freedom
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