Alexandra Township School

The following blog post was written on the evening of the 24^th July. Due to technological restrictions it was posted at a later date.

One group of Fulbrighters went to a township school in Alexandra. The experiences they had in the township contrast greatly with what I saw at Jeppe. Once matched with teachers from the township it became obvious that the Alexandra teachers expected our Fulbrighters to do the teaching for the day…which they were not planning on doing, but did ok on the spot.

As the day went on the teachers and students seemed to trickle out of the school, failing to come back to the principal’s office to pick members of our group back up and many of the Fulbrighters spent several hours sitting the office.

We learned later that it is incredibly difficult to fire a teacher in South Africa. The union only allows teachers to be fired if there is sexual abuse, physical abuse, or if they are drunk on the job. Failing to show up for work or leaving during the day without notice is not groups for termination. In the Township areas many times teachers leave before 11am or noon, along with most of the students.

These schools are also incredibly under funded, these students are only expected to pay about 120R ($16) a year, but only about 5% following through on paying these fees-of which could potentially increase the quality of education for the students. Reasons for failing to pay include both ability based on high level of poverty and a sense of entitlement that comes from a constitution that guarantees education to students in South Africa.

The inequalities that continue to exist 14 years after the end of apartheid in Johannesburg are staggering. The location of the townships away from employment opportunities and good schools, along with long history of intentional inequality forced about the Black townships during the apartheid government has made change a potentially long and difficult process when it comes to the drastic inequalities that exist between schools a short 20 minute drive apart.