Overview

In 2010, Equal Education (EE) embarked on a campaign to draw attention to the many schools in South Africa that do not have libraries. Through our research we found that 92% of schools do not have stocked libraries. But this is only a part of a bigger problem. EE has recognised the importance of school infrastructure in creating a suitable environment where teaching and learning can happen. For this reason, EE is putting pressure on the Minister of Basic Education to adopt Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure.

What are Minimum Norms and Standards?

The Minimum Norms and Standards policy is a set of regulations that will set the basic level of infrastructure that every school must meet in order to function properly. This includes facilities for sport, a library and media centre. The policy will also state that no school can operate without having certain basic infrastructure. This will allow schools to hold Government accountable and put pressure on Government to deliver.

Why are Minimum Norms and Standards important?  

Education in South Africa is highly unequal. Decades of Apartheid policy meant that previously white schools received more funding than schools in black, coloured and Indian communities. Many of the inequalities created during Apartheid remain today – seventeen years into our new democracy.

These imbalances are particularly noticeable in school infrastructure. The Norms and Standards policy is a way in which South Africa can address these imbalances, by officially defining the facilities a school should have. It is hoped that the adoption of this regulation will lead to a more level playing field for basic education.

In June 2010 the National Policy for An Equitable Provision of an Enabling School Physical Teaching and Learning Environment was published. This policy recognises that every school needs a library. It also states that “National Norms and Standards will be developed and will be fully adopted by the end of the 2010/2011 financial year.”

The Concert and March for Quality Education

On Human Rights Day, 21 March 2011, 20 000 learners, parents, community members and activists marched with EE to Parliament to deliver a memorandum for President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga, demanding that the Minister keep her promise and adopt Minimum Norms and Standards by 1 April 2011. The Minister did not attend the march but chose to join President Zuma at a Human Rights Day event at Athlone stadium. The memorandum was handed over to an official from the Department of Basic Education (DBE).

The DBE missed the 1 April 2011 deadline for the adoption of Minimum Norms and Standards.

See the picture gallery of the march here. 

Mothers write to Basic Education Minister and ANC Women’s League President Angie Motshekga

In April 2011, a group of mothers from Khayelitsha came together and penned an open letter to Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga in her capacity as President of the ANC Women’s League. In the letter, the mothers voice their concern about the quality of education their children are receiving. They also ask the Minister, as a woman and mother herself, to adopt the policy of Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure, which will benefit the lives of poor and working-class children across the country. The mothers write: “A better future for our children means a better future for our families. It also means a better future for South Africa.”

In the two weeks after the letter was written, the mothers went around their communities, garnering support for the letter from other parents and collecting more than 1300 signatures. On 29 April, the letter, along with the supporting signatures, was sent to the Minister and the senior leadership of the ANC Women’s League. The letter also appeared as a full-page ad in the Daily Sun and Times newspapers, and as an op-ed piece in the Sowetan’s education supplement.

The Minister is yet to respond to the parents’ letter.

Sleep-in and Vigil outside Parliament

In the media 

“Motshekga says pit latrines will stay,” by Anna Majavu, Sowetan [online edition], 21 December 2010. Read the article here. 

“Inverting the power pyramid,” by Marianne Thamm, City Press [online edition], 27 March 2011. Read the article here. 

“Cry for better education,” by Malibeni Sandisile, Sowetan [online edition], 22 March 2011. Read the article here. 

Excerpts from 'The State of the Education', a short documentary film directed by Dave Dornbrack and produced by Machon du Toit. EE Coordinator Doron Isaacs explains our Campaign for Minimum Norms and Standards, while high school principal Jimmy de Villiers highlights some of the infrastructure shortfalls in schools. We thank the filmmaker for his kind permission to post these excerpts.