This week marked the beginning of the 2023 matric final examinations, with more than 717,377 candidates sitting for the exams nationwide. Until next year, when the results are released, parents and care givers will be holding their breath, hoping their children performed well.
And just like the years before, questions will be raised about the state of education in SA. Among the issues likely to come to the fore is school discipline. Knowledge of human rights was denied to black people during the dark years of colonialism in SA.
Human rights education was therefore declared compulsory in schools post-apartheid from as early as pre-school. This was necessitated by the need to ensure that everyone, including children, is aware of their rights. Teachers are now mandated with the task of educating pupils about their rights. While this may sound like an easy task, the reality presents a different story.
For example, in Soweto, high schools teachers cited lack of training, lack of support and resources, and pupils who misinterpret rights as among the factors that lead to recalcitrant behaviour and other forms of ill-discipline. The most common of this is disrespect for teachers.
A study I undertook found understanding from teachers was that pupils’ disrespectful nature could be caused by the way they understood and claimed their rights. On the other hand, pupils justified their “disrespect” as a fight against what they saw as violation of their rights.
A pupil can be disruptive in class and if a teacher asks him/her to leave the classroom the pupil may refuse, claiming it is his/her right to be there to learn. The argument then is, “but are you really learning, or are you violating others’ right to education? ”
From pupils’ perspective, there may be multiple reasons to question the teaching of human rights they receive. One of the rights pupils know very well is that adults should not use corporal punishment. But one particular school in this study still uses corporal punishment.
In another case, pupils were denied entry into the school for being late and were required to pay R5 to be let in. What pupils did not know was where the money would go to and the lack of understanding by school authorities of the causes of the late coming.
To the pupils, this was seen as a violation of their right to education as failure to pay the R5 would mean non-attendance of school. Another example was where pupils were required to pay R50 to “redeem” their confiscated cellphones if they were caught using them during school hours.
In this age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, pupils do not understand why they are denied access to information through technology. Generally, children are labelled lazy or disrespectful and abusing their rights when they try to be assertive and express their opinions.
Such a tug of war results in disrespect for each other. It is a case of the same teacher who violates your rights should also teach you about them. Pupils find it difficult to respect teachers as they see them as the main perpetrators of abuse of their rights. However, human rights are here to stay and if taught well, can bring positive transformation for individuals and societies.
Without knowledge of your rights, one can easily be sidelined, disadvantaged or oppressed – without even knowing. Teachers need to walk the talk when it comes to teaching and respecting human rights. Having been previously underprivileged and oppressed, black teachers know how it feels to have their rights violated.
Another area that draws attention in the teaching of human rights to pupils is the need to be practical so that they understand their rights in ways that are relevant to their lives. In SA, there are still cases of human rights violations due to ignorance by perpetrators as well as lack of understanding of claiming and applying one’s rights.
If this generation of pupils is properly taught about their rights, this could minimise the problem of human rights violation. Even teachers need to be educated about human rights as they are the custodians in schools.
■ Dr Munongi is a senior lecturer, department of educational psychology at UJ
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