Green light to a dead end

So the president is cock-a-hoop about the matric results. And playing the race card again by accusing the Opposition leader of not being able to accept that blacks are able to pass exams.

But Helen Zille has good reason to be sceptical about the statistics. Her own province, which regularly has had the best results, is suddenly fourth behind certain ANC strongholds. Also (surprise! surprise!) Limpopo has registered a 71.8 per cent pass rate, although pupils in the province were denied text books for most of the year!

Almost as bad as this clear manipulation is the news that some provinces have been culling numbers before the exams, telling Grade 11 pupils who might fail that they will not even get a chance to write matric. How cynical is that?

The biggest problem with our education, of course, is that many thousands of the pupils who have been allowed to write, and successfully, will merely have been given a green light into a dead end.

That problem will persist until the country as a whole comes up with a better programme of job creation. To that end, the government could help by looking to develop the state land it has appropriated over two decades, setting up and training youngsters on community farms.

The Israeli government would be able to assist, and might be pleased to do so. Its kibbutzim were at the heart of that country’s own agricultural development and still employ many young citizens.

But then Jacob Zuma and his acolytes are unlikely to approach Israel. For them it is a state non grata for a couple of reasons. While they will accept the Chinese, despite their poor record on human rights, they will not readily forget that Israeli scientists provided nuclear power assistance to the old Nationalist government. Or that Israel continues to be beastly to the Palestinians.

Oh, well.