By 
As we commemorate June 16, it is a time of reflection and introspection as a country, a time to ask serious questions and see if we can answer them successfully and with conviction. One of the critical questions that crosses my mind is, was it worth it for the 1976 generation to die for good quality education?
On Monday, 16 June, the nation will be commemorating Youth Day, whether this is an appropriate name for the historic day or not, is a debate for another day. Politicians from diverse political parties will be out and about advocating for issues affecting the youth of South Africa, for some it will just be popularism and public stunts to look relevant; however, the situation of the youth and basic education remain increasingly worrisome.
So much blood has been spilt as learners left the classroom and took to the streets to fight for better meaningful education on that fatal day, this was not just about removing the Afrikaans language, but to get rid of Bantu education and demand an education accorded to the whites, the brave youth fought against a hostile government for an education that will afford them meaningful jobs, get them into universities instead of being just trained for base jobs.
The uprising of 1976 shocked the world, young lives were ended too soon, their blood flowed down the streets of Soweto to water the seed of a better future. 31 years into democracy, are our schools, black schools in the location giving better education, better relevant education that prepares our children for the fast paced changing world?
It is heart-breaking to see that even the passing mark for most subjects in the National Senior Certificate has been reduced to 30%, instead of raising the standard to ensure that we produce the best of the crop, we settle for less. It is disheartening to see sports facilities in most schools in the locations are dilapidated, meaning, sport is not important, probably no sports takes place at those schools.
Learners now attend school seven days a week, they live, breathe and eat school, those in matric even camp at school, the pressure is mountainous. It is argued that even though most pass their matric, the quality is poor.
As much as our government is trying to fix one thing, but it creates a mess on the other hand, we are going to have a generation that is disconnected to family life and is a social dwarf, because all they do is study.
The world is ushering in the fourth industrial revolution, an era of robotics and artificial intelligence. Our education system needs to adopt to that, robotics and AI need to be a standard at schools, by the time they go to tertiary learners transitioning into students must be familiar to the concept of technology, of which most of the jobs will be created in that space.
It sad to see the report by Stats SA on unemployment, the biggest casualties of this scourge is the youth, we have a number of frustrated youths who have been searching for employment with no success for years, though only 1% of them are educated with degrees, a majority of them hardly have a matric certificate or any formal training at tertiary level. They are basically unemployable.
June 16, instead of going on a drinking spree and partying, the youth of today need to ask themselves serious questions, when the older generation passes away, who is going to lead the country? They will definitely not be young forever, and those leading the country will not live forever.
We have seen students rising from universities demanding free education, a commodity that has been made so expensive that not everyone can afford it, especially amongst the blacks, the initiative is noble and some universities including the University of the Free State have established support funds for students with financial difficulties, to ensure that no student is denied access to good quality education because of finances.
Mandela said we must get education, as education is the key for a better future. We need more educated youths than we need rappers and actors, and this in no way to undermine the respective careers, they are important, however, we need people who will in the future lead strategic economic sectors in the country, people who are fit to compete on a global scale, improve our economy and create jobs, industrialise our country and make it a safe and better country to live and invest in.
