Teachers Strike Today!

Well, it had to happen sometime I suppose. ...

Today about 80% of South Africa's teachers went on strike. At least most
schools informed the parents that there would be no school today.
Unfortunately, that made a huge dent in worker productivity for most
businesses, because the parents either had to take leave (unscheduled) or
bring their children with them to work (How productive can you be with a kid
or two bugging you the whole day?).

Am I mad about the situation? No.

Am I inconvenienced? Yes.

Am I upset? Yes - but not for the reasons you may think.

I am upset that the situation was allowed to get to this state in the first
place. It's just another indication of how REACTIONARY our government is -
instead of being PROACTIONARY.

Everyone knows that teachers paid by the government get a pathetic salary.
Granted, some of the teachers are pathetically unmotivated, and couldn't
care a damn about the students in their care. However, I know that most
teachers perform an excellent job, under some very trying circumstances.
Government perhaps has lost focus of how important the role of teachers are
in society.

Perhaps if government actually paid our essential services employees
(nurses, teachers, police, etc.) a better salary, they would be more
motivated to deliver the service they are paid to deliver (I know this is a
naïve thought, but I can hope and dream too, can't I?).

The other thing that really irks me is that we pay quite high tax in South
Africa. Our esteemed minister of Finance has managed to collect more revenue
than ever before, from the widest tax base ever, and the average middle
class citizen still has to pay for basic education (government or
otherwise). Like most people, I hate double paying! If our taxes were used
to visibly improve schooling, health care, and safety and security, I
wouldn't mind paying so much tax. (It's at times like this that I admire
countries like Australia, who seem to have a workable and well organized
education system.)

OK, I've had enough of a moan for now. What I'll be spending the next few
weeks researching is: Which country (or countries) have the best primary and
high school education systems. I'll be looking at factors like quality,
subject variety, teacher pay and other benefits, government assistance,
affordability, school infrastructure, other school services, extra-mural
activities, after care facilities, etc. We would like to hear your thoughts,
so please post a comment.

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check out www.SchoolReportServices.com.