#SignTheSmileOff: Amnesty’s plan to wipe the HF Verwoerd legacy from education

As human rights group Amnesty International South Africa launch their bid to erase the negative impact apartheid had on black education, we sat down for a chat with their Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed in a Q&A session.

The #SignTheSmileOff campaign is advocating for the South African government to provide access to quality, affordable and basic education to South African schools. With the Bantu Education Act of 1953, HF Verwoerd closed down what was a functioning system of black education that included some good mission schools.

Who is HF Verwoerd?

The original “architect of apartheid”, Verwoerd blocked a functioning education system for black children and discouraged the teaching of maths and science. #SignOffTheSmile also pushes the government to provide schools with proper resources, teach basic skills in reading and mathematics, and replace pit latrines with safe toilets by January 2021.

Here’s how Mohamed and co plan to wipe the grinning legacy of HF Verwoerd from our schools…

What you need to know about #SignTheSmileOff, and Verwoerd’s legacy:

Q: Please tell us about the footprint of Amnesty International in SA and some of the strides has made

A: Amnesty International is a non-partisan, non-political, non-governmental organization which bases its work on local and international law. We use evidence-based research and advocacy to advocate for change.

President Nelson Mandela was an Amnesty Ambassador of Conscience. Post-1994, Amnesty has still been extremely active in South Africa. Some of our campaigns include the right to access safe and legal abortion, maternal health, decriminalization of sex work, Marikana and the decriminalization of sex work to name a few.

Q: In your role as ED at Amnesty International, what are some of the key focal points for the organisation to achieve its mandate to civil society?

A: Amnesty International is a global movement of people ‘who take injustice personally’. This is an important distinction because it means that
Amnesty is a people driven movement and relies on membership and
supporter base for resources and direction. We are located in 150
countries around the world.

This week, Amnesty South Africa will be hosting Amnesty’s Global Assembly in Johannesburg. Amnesty believes in people power and leading from the ground not only in the country we are based in but in solidarity with human rights defenders around the world.

Q: We all know there is a huge focus on UN 2020 and 2030 Sustainable development goals. Can you tell us what your immediate goals for 2020- 2021 are?

A: In South Africa Amnesty is focused on the Right to Quality Education, the Right to Quality Health Care, Climate Change, Mining Affected Communities and Violence Against Women.

Q: Tell us about this provocative campaign – taking a slant at HF Verwoerd – that the organisation has launched?

A: This campaign is designed to be provocative and disruptive because we feel really strongly that 25 years after Independence the Education System in South Africa should not be where it is today. The education system is still facing major challenges mirroring the country’s deep socio-economic inequality.

We have seen first-hand that schools that are literally falling apart – never renovated since they were built decades ago with collapsing and unsafe Buildings; There are extremely overcrowded classrooms with up to 60-70 students in some cases.

There are insufficient textbooks for all learners; a lack of decent sanitation with the continued use of pit toilets and the absence of essential amenities such as libraries, laboratories and sports facilities that can enrich education and which are taken for granted in our wealthier institutions.

Q: What are the facts and statistics of these issues?

A: Despite the fact that 20% of national budget allocations go to education,
access to basic and quality education remains a concern. Apartheid created deep inequalities in education. Around 50% of the 1.2 million learners enrolled in Grade 1 every year drop out by Grade 12, 78% of our Grade 4 learners – schoolchildren aged 10 – cannot read and 61% of Grade 5 school children cannot do basic maths.

Meanwhile, 37% of schools lack basic sanitation, and pupils at 18% of our schools are still forced to use highly dangerous pit latrines. Around 81% of schools don’t have laboratories and 70% lack a library.

Almost 22% of people aged seven to 18 cited “no money for school fees”
as their main reason for not attending an educational institution in 2017.  Also, African high schools create more Mathematics or Physical Science distinctions than the remaining 97% put together.

Q: Are you not afraid a campaign as provocative as this will be unwelcomed by many, given the choice to lead with a divisive figure such as HF Verwoerd?

A: The aim of this campaign is to be disruptive and increase dialogue around the issue. We want the Government to take seriously the issue of quality education and if they do not pay serious attention to fixing what is wrong, they will inadvertently be contributing the Hendrik Verwoerd’s vision of a lower quality of education for people of colour.

We deliberately chose Verwoerd because it is a fact that he created an education system that was specifically geared towards keeping blacks under-educated and preventing them from achieving any aspirations for higher education and skilled employment and working their way out of poverty.

Q: What do you wish to achieve with this campaign?

A: We want the issue of the provision of quality education to be taken seriously and we want the government to commit to eradicating Verwoerd’s legacy forever. The children of South Africa have the right to a quality education that provides them with options for the future.

This can only be done if they deliver on their commitments and put plans
in place to tackle fundamental issues such as textbook provision, quality
of teaching, infrastructure improvement, the building of libraries, etc.