It is that time of the year when the finger-pointing at the Department of Education starts again.

It is that time of the year when the finger-pointing at the Department of Education starts again.

Most education organisations, including teacher unions, are blaming the government for failing to create an environment conducive to learning and teaching, while parents blame the teachers.

But I believe that the teachers and government are not to blame. I blame the department.

Had the department implemented the new curriculum statement (NCS) after consulting teachers, teacher bodies and other stakeholders in education, 600000 pupils would not have failed the National Senior Certificate.

Teachers were trained for three or four years at college but not in NCS, which is not taught at any tertiary institution.

This being the case, how on earth do we expect teachers to teach what they themselves do not understand?

Department director-general Duncan Hindle once said OBE was a huge mistake, though he later retracted his statement for the sake of department's image.

The department must now work very hard to train teachers in NCS.

We have no option but to sort out the mess in education and it is vital that the department and all of us play our part. If not, education will continue to favour a minority of South Africans, as it did in the past.

Gudluza Gudluza, Pretoria