When former British Prime Minister Tony Blair came to power in 1997, he famously stated that his government’s three main priorities would be: “Education, education, and education.” Of the fact that education remained high priority for the Blair administration there is little doubt. The jury is still out as to whether this political prioritistaion of education led to a markedly improved British schooling system.

As the new academic year gets under way and the annual debate on the state of South African education continues, we would be hard pressed to find 3 more critical priorities for our government than Tony Blair set for his. Education, education and education must become the mantra of this and all future South African governments if we are to address our many social ills and achieve the lofty targets being set in other areas of government.

That said will simply prioritizing education at government level necessarily lead to a radical improvement in our children’s education? 

In a recent article published in The Independent on Saturday, KZN MEC for Education Senzo Mchunu made a valid if somewhat unsettling point. He said that high pre-matric dropout rates could be attributed to: “The impact of social ills on families generally and ultimately on the children themselves.” He went on to say: “This goes far beyond an issue for which the Department of Basic Education should alone shoulder the blame for not “knowing” the answers.”

It all seems depressingly chicken-and-egg. If our myriad social ills can only be properly addressed by improving education and children are being prevented from completing their education because of these self same social ills, is there any hope at all?

The answer to this question is yes. For whilst academics and politicians debate curriculum, pass rates and racial equity - all of which clearly need ongoing debate and reform - there is a critical factor to achieving success in a child’s education that we are missing and that professionals and even politicians around the world are tuning into - the simple yet highly powerful practice of mentorship.

Without an adult mentor most children will flounder. At best they will underperform. At worst they will drop out before matriculating. With so many of our nation’s children living without parents who can guide and motivate them, the need for a national mentorship programme is enormous. Without this we can debate policy, budgets and teacher quality all day long. The pass rates and grades of our school kids will only improve significantly once they are motivated to attend school regularly and work hard. This will not happen unless they are being guided and encouraged by a responsible and caring adult.  

A concerned adult spending quality time with a child yields significant results. Research conducted by US based child mentorship programme Big Brothers Big Sisters demonstrated that even if just one hour of one-on-one time is invested each week, kids are 53% more likely to stay in school, 32% less likely to engage in violence and 46% less likely to use drugs. Kids with mentors are also more likely to finish high school and continue with tertiary education.

In the US, President Obama’s government has recognised that government alone simply cannot generate these kinds of results. His call for a renewed emphasis on public participation challenges Americans to work with government and each other in a programme called United We Serve. January is mentorship month and it is during this month that Americans are encouraged to come alongside a child and mentor them. He has acknowledged that government is inadequate to the task of motivating, inspiring and encouraging each and every school student and that one-on-one mentorship is needed to help children to complete their education and to complete it well.

I recently received an astonishing e-mail from a friend of ours. Four years ago she read an all-too-familiar story in The Mercury about a grade 7 schoolgirl who had lost her parents and was caring for her siblings. Deeply moved by the story, she set about contacting the young girl and has been mentoring her ever since. During this time, our friend has spent quality with the young girl. She has shown interest in her studies and encouraged her to work hard. On a couple of occasions she has taken the girl to her place of work.

But here’s the really astonishing bit. In her final grade 11 exams the young girl got 8 A’s.

However bright a child may be, such results are unlikely if a child is not being cared for, listened to, affirmed, motivated and inspired. These are the gifts that my friend gave this young lady and they are the gifts that I believe we should all be giving to at least one child who is not our own.

If you would like to get involved in a local mentorship programme feel free to e-mail me at justin@sayhello.co.za.