In near-failed states and broken societies, such as South Africa, individual teachers have a greater obligation to mould citizens for the fast-changing world of work, economy and for healthy roles in society. In broken societies, as South Africa is, teachers are even more critical in shaping well-rounded young citizens equipped to navigate complex individual, relationship, workplace and societal challenges. South Africa has often been talked about as a country on the verge of becoming afailed state, when a state is captured by corrupt individuals, where the state cannot, or its leaders lack the will to enforce the rule of law, cannot protect its citizens and struggles to provide the most basic public services, unable fill a pothole or replace a pit latrine at a school.
A broken society is where social order has broken down, moral values have collapsed and traditional family structures that centre individuals and provide a personal accountability framework have largely fractured. In broken societies, such as South Africa, other societal institutions, such as traditional, cultural and religious, that alongside the family institution is supposed to provide moral values, a well-rounded sense of self and an individual accountability compass, have to a large extent been corrupted, degenerated or become so outdated to be irrelevant for present-day human challenges. In any modern society, quality education is one of the single-most-important stepladders out of poverty, to break generational cycles of deprivation and ultimately to achieve individual economic freedom in societies like South Africa with deep legacies of systemic race or ethnic-based poverty, but also when critical society child-moulding institutions such as the family, communal traditions and moral frameworks are in many instances broken, outdated or harmful.
Technology is changing faster than business or society can adapt. We are seeing the merging of human and artificial intelligence and of physical and digital worlds – which makes many old business operational models outdated. This makes the traditional role of the teacher, even in relatively “normal”, “healthy” and stable societies much more onerous.
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Nevertheless, teachers play a critical role, not only in delivering quality education, even when resources are scarce, but they are mentors, guiding pupils in choosing the right economy-relevant subjects, for example, parental figures and examples of good, values-based adult behaviour and leadership. The trauma of apartheid has left a crisis of broken black family structures. The apartheid migrant labour system removed males from families to distant workplaces.
Forced removals broke families. Sadly, although formal apartheid has ended, new families that have been started in the post-apartheid era have repeated the cycle of apartheid-era broken family structures. Many of South Africa’s family structures are fatherless, and if they are present, they are a negative presence.
The reality is that family structures, particularly families of formerly disadvantaged communities, are more diverse, more complex and less traditionally nuclear, and will continue to be so. However, the family structures, whatever form, that hold individuals, children and young people accountable have largely collapsed in many previously disadvantaged communities. The fracturing of family structures means that structures, rules and values – which foster healthy habits, relationships and decisions for children – are not conveyed in family structures, neither in other societal institutions, such as traditional, communal or religious ones, which in many instances have largely been corrupted, are outdated or are toxic.
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