“On a daily basis I’m under huge pressure – in the name of equity – to lower the bar,” University of the Free State Vice- Chancellor and Rector Professor Jonathan Jansen told a packed auditorium at the Gordon Institute of Business Science on the eve of Africa Day. “I won’t.”
In a no-holds-barred talk in which Jansen lamented South Africa’s declining education levels as well as the exodus of African intellectuals and academics to global institutions in the US and UK, the controversial columnist and commentator stressed the need to get the basics in education right. “You need to insist on just a few basics to get our schools right. Ask simple things. Ask the children: Can you read? Can you write? Can you reason? Do the basic things right, like attend classes. The kids will respond.”
We are failing our children in a massive way, said Jansen. “We are staring down the barrel of a gun … I don’t think (people) realise how serious this problem is. We need to get this right.”
Visit the GIBS website, www.gibs.co.za, to watch a video of Prof. Jansen's address.
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