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By Edwin Naidu
In a country with high unemployment, poverty and deepening inequality, is there an argument for the matric dance to be stopped at schools in South Africa since they are places of learning and not to show off?
It is an unnecessary waste of money that creates divisions rather than promotes the reconciliation that the Constitution calls for.
It’s not as if most learners in our country leave the system destined for great tidings. At least 300,000 matriculants, for example, fail annually.
Yet South Africa celebrates mediocrity and its passage to nothingness because the government fails to create jobs and skills required for school leavers to secure employment.
Celebrating them may encourage the have-nots to do better despite lacking resources.
The only time we ought to dance in celebration is when the Basic Education Ministry is churning out a nation of learners with skills enabling them to read, write and count at least by Grade 4. This is not the case at present. South Africa ranks dismally in global surveys of reading, writing and numeracy.
A matric dance should celebrate success as a society or a nation. There is nothing to dance about when the system continues to produce dunces. This is no slight on the children who fail but, on the system, and the teachers who fail them.
Matric dances and other diversions should be done outside the school premises if allowed. The only competition at schools should be learners competing to outdo each other on excellence, not who has the best dress, suit or hired car for the night.
When the schooling system meets all children’s needs equally, South Africa should celebrate or dance in the knowledge that it adequately prepares them for the world after school.
The matric farewell dresses can break an arm and a leg if not budgeted for properly, placing many cash-strapped households in a precarious position that could even lead to depression.
For example, an elegant lace-up back ensures a flawless, figure-hugging Ruffle Tulle designer gown by Gert-Johan Coetzee costs a staggering R35,000. It’s best left for thechildren of super-rich kids.
For the less well-heeled, a Rhinestone Mock Slit number from Temu is a more affordable R538.
The prices of men’s clothing are not cheap either. A Fabiani men’s black wool suit costs at least R5999 at Woolies, but a suit from Markhams is around R1700.These prices exclude shoes and accessories and money for makeup and hair stylists.
The dress is not the only expensive feature of the matric dance.
Hair, nails, jewellery and the mode of transport to the event are also costly. Some families have had to pay to rent a limousine just for one night, which is not cheap.
The purpose of the matric dance is to give pupils a chance to socialise with their classmates they may never see again after graduation, foster camaraderie and encouragelasting friendships and bonds.
However, one tends to agree that this could turn out to be a costly feat that may leave a massive dent in the pockets of struggling black middle-class families. Parents must remember to save some money for the registration fees in January. The festive season and its expenses are around the corner.
There is also the issue of where the pupils will go when they pass matric because our universities and colleges cannot accommodate the thousands that leave school every year.
The matric dance puts too much pressure on parents who may feel they don’t want to disappoint their children who have worked hard to remain in school and studied diligently to pass matric.
It is a temporary celebration. But judging from South Africa’s history, the majority have nothing to celebrate because those who won’t find space at tertiary institutionswill still languish in the townships because of a lack of job or training opportunities in South Africa.
I know this isn’t easy, but middle-class families need to instill a culture of savings in their children and teach them that consumption is best left to the rich.
Thirty years of democracy does not mean that South Africa is free of the legacies of apartheid, and the country continues to mirror the disparities of unequal education. We need to remember that the apartheid government used to spend R1211 per white child compared to R146 on a black child.
The ratio then was one teacher to 18 pupils in white schools, compared to one teacher to 39 learners in black schools. Half the black matriculants who wrote the examinations in 1983 failed. It sounds like little has changed. Democracy has meant that spending patterns are changing. However, inequalities remain.
The matric ball is one night on the calendar for most to escape the realities of the majority’s challenges in the country.
But the after-party is a debt hangover, which the Basic Education Department should clamp down on to spare the headaches of parents who cannot tell their children no; this is a waste of money. After all, what’s there to celebrate?
Edwin Naidu is the Editor of Inside Education.