Maternity Leave for Schoolgirls

What next? Paternity leave for the father?

 

Maternity leave for schoolgirls was one of the proposals made at a Teenage Pregnancy Summit in KwaZulu-Natal last week. This is supposed to support the mother without hindering her education.

 

OK, this is all very noble and all, but I think it's time for South Africa to wake up, and start letting people experience the consequences of their actions. We have become way to soft and politically correct, and oh so afraid of offending someone, because maybe it's "unconstitutional". I searched Google on this subject, and it looks like South Africa is about the only place on the planet daft enough to entertain the idea of maternity leave for schoolgirls.

 

Back in the day, if a schoolgirl got pregnant, she had to leave school before she started showing, and could only come back after the baby was born, and had to repeat the same standard again. Harsh it was, but there were very few pregnancies - and the other kids learned from the lesson too.

 

As far as I'm concerned, if the child is old enough to do "adult things", then they should be prepared to accept "adult responsibilities" and "adult consequences".

 

While the girl is away from school there are other education alternatives - home schooling or correspondence study. If that doesn't pan out, there is always the alternative of postponing her education for a year or two.

 

Unfortunately, it's the mother that has to bear the brunt of the consequences - the boy who got her pregnant in the first place most likely gets away with very few consequences. It shouldn't be so, but such is life. Life is not fair - deal with it!

 

All this is though indicates a much deeper problem ... parents are not giving their kids moral guidance. Moral guidance has nothing to do with class, race, gender, or financial means - everyone can participate. It is NOT the school's job to provide moral guidance. That job was, is, and always will be the responsibility of the parents.

 

Many parents are unaware of their children's academic progress. For schools to help parents become a bit more aware of how their children are doing at school, why not check out the School Report Services web site at www.SchoolReportServices.com

 

HooHa over Teachers' Salaries

Some teachers' salaries are being augmented by funds obtained directly from the parents. This is causing a national stink! But I really don't know what all the fuss is about - maybe I'm missing the boat completely.

 

Here's the situation:

For government schools, the government pays our teachers' salaries. These are usually low, with few perks - even for senior teachers. Some teachers do an excellent job in spite of the difficulties surrounding their profession. For some of these excellent educators, who are already doing an excellent job, some school boards have decided to augment the government's pittence, and give these teachers certain perks, ranging from accomodation to cash.

 

I personally don't have a problem with this - as long as the teacher is excellent, I would want to keep him or her in the school so that my child could have a better than average education.

 

Some people call this "bribery and corruption". I think not. The difference is as follows:

Bribery is paying someone to do what they OUGHT to be doing in the first place.

Bonuses and perks on the other hand are rewards for jobs ALREADY well done, and can be used as incentives to keep up the behavior. This happens all the time in the corporate world - why should schools be any different?

 

Quite frankly, as long as the bonuses, perks, and other incentives are handled openly, honestly, and with the permission of the school governing body, I don't see a problem with this. In fact, our (good) teachers need all the help they can get.

 

On the other hand, obtaining funds using unethical methods totally disgusts me, and brings the teaching profession into disrepute. Such is the case it seems with the Ithuteng Trust, run by Jackey Maarohange. Last Sunday, Carte Blanche did an "expose" on the Ithuteng Trust. It seems as if "Mama Jackey" coached students in her school for disadvantaged kids, to lie, dramatically act, and incriminate themselves on public television - in order to obtain funding from high profile politicians, judges, actors, an celebrities like Oprah Winfrey. They even lied to the United Nations!

 

That's not the worst of it. It seems, from my casual observance, that what the accounting records say, and what the actual surveilance revealed, clashed. My question: Where did all the money go? Some of the students didn't complete their high schooling, very few graduated from university, the universities didn't receive enough registration and tuition fees, boarding houses were empty. Yet millons were spent on "consumables". "Mama Jackey" also has various legal action against her - some of it from her own former students.

 

Carte Blanche can't bring legal action against Jackey Maarohange, but the celebrities, polititians, and companies that "invested" in her trust can - and I certainly hope that they do.

 

Notwithstanding all the above, there are some who still want to invest in good governance for our schools. School Report Services is one of these, and they provide an excellent distribution mechanism for pupil's school report cards. Check them out by clicking on the hyperlink.

Traffic Calming Near Schools

Today, I'm writing about one of my pet peeves - TRAFFIC! I love traffic - as long as it's web traffic. I don't care too much for the other kind.

 

Anyway, I read an article last month that mentioned how many children were killed or injured crossing the road at their school. I was mortified! I speak for myself, but when I approach any school in my car, I take extra care. It seems there are some "moegoes" (stupid people) out there that just don't use common sense - or just don't care.

 

It seems that schools that have instituted scholar patrols at crossing points have a much lower incidence of tragedy than the schools that don't. It was pleasing to see that the police were prepared to come on board and teach the youngsters how to handle traffic. Good on you!

 

I pass two schools every day on my normal route. Both schools have physical traffic calming devices (i.e. speed humps). I would expect that the local municipalities would install these types of traffic calming measures at EVERY school. But no, sadly this is not the case. I don't know if this is just a South African phenomenon. The excuse is, it's too expensive. Figures like R50,000 per speed hump were mentioned. I'm not a road engineer, but this sounds totally ridiculous! What is a speed hump? Some tar or concrete set in a raised form across the road, and some paint to demarcate it properly, plus a sign or two. BAD MUNICIPALITY!! SHAME ON YOU! Perhaps it you implemented some work efficiencies, it wouldn't cost so much.

 

The good thing about good physical traffic calming measures, is that they are very effective. Hit the bump too fast, and you are in for some expensive repair bills for your vehicle.

 

I think that it should be law, that the roads around every school should have physical traffic calming measures installed - and that the government should foot the bill.

 

If your school wants traffic of the good kind, as mentioned at the top of this post, why not check out www.SchoolReportServices.com. School Report Services is the leading provider of SMS-based report card distribution mechanism.

Good Food is Good for School

It's great to be posting again. It's been a busy October/November. I haven't had time to post to this blog recently, but I have been collecting articles of interest during that time. I now have lots of articles to comment on.

 

The first article has to do with "junk food" and school tuck shops.

 

Ever since I can remember, the schools have had tuck shops. The staple fare being sweets and chocolates, fizzy cool drinks, toasted sandwiches, fried (slap) chips, vetkoek, donuts, and so on. Even now the fond memories are adding centimeters to my girth!

 

However, according to the Sunday Times (October 8 2006), Sunridge Primary in Port Elizabeth has turfed the junk food at their tuck shop and replaced it with nutritious alternatives like tuna rolls, still water and fruit juice, nuts and raisins, carrot muffins, and all the toasted sandwiches use low-fat ingredients on brown and whole wheat bread.

 

It seems this trend has been set by the schools in Finland, who consistently enjoy top-rate results.

 

If they had done this at my school years ago, there would probably have been a riot. But, according to the principal, the teachers are seeing improvements in behavior and concentration. They attribute this directly to the healthier food. The pupils with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have shown particular improvement.

 

So perhaps, if I hadn't gorged myself on vetkoek, Coke, and chocolate when I was at school, I would have performed better academically - I might even have been a genius (yeah, right!!!).