As a way of measuring the main issues of concern for South Africa’s sitting president and how they change over time, we analysed 10 State of the Nation Addresses (SONAs), given by two presidents, over the past eight years to tease out the topics they devoted the most time to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The interactive graphic below shows the 10 topics that got the most airtime, counted as number of words, in each of the past 10 SONAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the State of the Nation Address sets out the government\u2019s priorities for the coming year, then the education of our schoolchildren is not one of them in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We understand that the country is in the throes of a pandemic and attention has to be focused on that, but given the disruptions the SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused to schooling, one paragraph of a mere 54 words seemed inadequate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, more than 80 school days were lost<\/a> because of lockdowns, according to the Wave Two report by the National Income Dynamics Study \u2013 Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2021, the start of the school year was delayed by nearly three weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nine-million children \u2013 75% of the school population \u2013 lost out on school feeding schemes when the country went into lockdown in 2020, according to Section 27<\/a>, a non-profit organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 12 000 teachers and 3 000 non-teaching staff have tested positive for the virus, and over 1 000 teachers have died from Covid-19-related illnesses, since March 2020, the Department of Basic Education told members of parliament<\/a> on 23 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The matric class of 2020 had a pass rate of 76%. The class of 2019 and 2018 had pass rates of 81% and 78%, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While online learning was regarded as the answer to missed school days, “Many learners do not have devices to support learning from home,” says Noncedo Madubedube, the general secretary of non-profit Equal Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there are still thousands of public schools that don\u2019t even meet the minimum standards for sanitation<\/a> in schools. A recent DBE school readiness report said 3 335 schools had requested emergency water provision<\/a> for the year ahead. Water in schools is crucial to ensure the children can meet the hygiene requirements for Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This, however, is all the president had to say about education in this year\u2019s SONA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Of the many hardships our people had to experience last year, schooling disruption placed a huge burden on learners, teachers and families. Despite this, they persevered. It is our priority for this year to regain lost time and improve educational outcomes, from the early years through to high school and post-school education and training.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n There was nothing about how schools were going to regain lost time or improve outcomes. Which will be next to impossible with the country anticipating the third wave of Covid-19 infections and schools cutting their budgets, said Madubedube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advocacy group Section 27 said: “It is deeply concerning that the President failed to provide detail on how the basic education sector will be supported in this time of crisis. The President should have provided an honest depiction of the way education has been negatively impacted during COVID-19 and the failings of the Department of Basic Education to adequately address problems.” See Section 27’s full response here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Every year in his State of the Nation address President Cyril Ramaphosa has spoken about Eskom and how it needs to be fixed because of its limiting effect on economic growth.In fact, the beleaguered electricity utility has featured prominently in SONAs since at least 2014. This year it was in the top five topics that got the most airtime again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was just over five years ago that then Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa told the National Council of Provinces that in 18 months to two years we’d all have forgotten Eskom’s challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCovid-19 related deaths among teachers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s talk about Eskom and our energy problems, again<\/h2>\n\n\n\n