South Africa and Zimbabwe must help migrant pupils

It is frightening, given the threats against foreigners in our country – including ones legally here – that many of those migrants seem to be electing to take their chances with death by staying… so that their children can continue to get a South African education.

The biggest irony is that many of those who will not leave because of the future of their kids are from Zimbabwe.

To those who may have forgotten, in the immediate post-independence years in that country – in the ’80s and ’90s – Zimbabwe’s educational system was one of the best in Africa.

Many of the companies and individuals who employed Zimbabweans here during the first waves of immigration remarked how they seemed better-educated and informed than their South African counterparts.

Today, however, Zimbabwean education is broken to such an extent that its people envy our school setup – and we all know how much we complain about that system.

Yet, the reality is that Zimbabwean parents with children in South African schools recognise the value of SA’s curriculum and assessment policy statement curriculum, which some Zimbabwean children have been following for more than a decade.

If those pupils were to go back to their parents’ home, they would struggle to adapt to Zimbabwe’s education system, potentially delaying completion of their schooling by several years.

Some of the children returning do not understand Ndebele or Shona and, in Zimbabwe, there are no subjects like maths literacy or life orientation, seen as important, according to Zimbabwean activists here.

It is a terrible situation for any parent to be in.

Cynics might say they are responsible because they chose this country.

But, as always, the children suffer.

Surely there must be a way for both countries to work together to facilitate the transition from one system to the other?