READER LETTER | Our education system needs to be overhauled

A very important video circulated on WhatsApp on Tuesday, and I wish that planners of the education content of our basic education system could have access to it, though it had specific reference to the Eastern Cape.

Of vital importance was the assertion by a young man that even if a pupil happens to achieve a 30% or 80% pass mark, it means a 30% or 80% of nothing, because of the mixture of valueless subjects the pupils are taught, which will never help in the economic development of this country.

He mentioned the bizarre situation of children from countries with no mineral resources having a curriculum that includes subjects like mining and other important ones, which are not taught in our schools.

This means that pupils in countries like Germany, for instance, are being prepared for a future where they could develop and manage our mines, while our own children will forever remain “slaves” in their own countries, working for those who have the capacity and ability to plan and execute the mining industry.

Take for instance, a certificate with the following subjects: geography, history, English, Xhosa, life sciences, agriculture, and what was known as arithmetic in the past in SA. Which career can these subjects possibly prepare a pupil for?

Cometh Dube-Makholwa, Midrand