EDITORIAL: Leave children out of this mess
Being good parents means putting our kids on a bus, not throwing them under it. On Tuesday, education minister Anna Nghipondoka used children as an excuse for why teachers should not partake in the looming national civil servant strike.
Children should not be used as bargaining chips in this situation. It is difficult to see how mentioning children would sway the minds of teachers who may intend on protesting for their first salary increase in seven years.
But even if we were absolutely compelled to use children as bait in this discourse, the flip side of this argument is even more severe. The lion’s share of civil servants have children and it has been a struggle to fulfil their parental duties while becoming poorer amid rising inflation and static salaries.
What is ironic is that parents, teachers included, have to carry on their shaky shoulders the effects of the political lie that is ‘free’ education by filling funding gaps midwifed by this false narrative.
Civil servants now have to buy textbooks and other stationery for their children because schools are underfunded and struggling to breathe under the weight of this populist public relations exercise.
True, state coffers are as empty as a stingy boyfriend’s promises, but it is hard to see how civil servants would agree to remain sacrificial lambs of this state of affairs after going seven years without a cent more.
Children should not be used as bargaining chips in this situation. It is difficult to see how mentioning children would sway the minds of teachers who may intend on protesting for their first salary increase in seven years.
But even if we were absolutely compelled to use children as bait in this discourse, the flip side of this argument is even more severe. The lion’s share of civil servants have children and it has been a struggle to fulfil their parental duties while becoming poorer amid rising inflation and static salaries.
What is ironic is that parents, teachers included, have to carry on their shaky shoulders the effects of the political lie that is ‘free’ education by filling funding gaps midwifed by this false narrative.
Civil servants now have to buy textbooks and other stationery for their children because schools are underfunded and struggling to breathe under the weight of this populist public relations exercise.
True, state coffers are as empty as a stingy boyfriend’s promises, but it is hard to see how civil servants would agree to remain sacrificial lambs of this state of affairs after going seven years without a cent more.
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Namibian Sun
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