Children don’t usually protest in the streets, hold “family meetings,” or issue press releases. They’re sadly too busy sitting in overcrowded classrooms—often without pencils or books. 

Children literally can’t issue media statements, release financial reports, host high-profile events, or author viral social media posts. That means children and their essential education don’t make the news the way adult or university student issues do.  As a result, national attention on education is often limited to just a few weeks each year: when matric results are released. We engage in our annual ritual of lament—bemoaning how half a million children who start Grade 1 drop out and never make it to matric, how bachelor pass rates remain low—and then the issue fades again until the following January, when much of the country is still on the beach. 

One publication has bucked this trend. Over the past few weeks, The Daily Maverick has offered rare, sustained coverage of South Africa’s education crisis—highlighting teacher shortages, crumbling infrastructure, burnt-out educators, and the administrative burden that’s driving many out of the profession altogether. 

If South Africa’s weakening economy and businesses are to grow, education must improve. And the media plays a vital role in making children’s needs visible when they cannot.  The Daily Maverick is to be applauded for continuing to shine a light on this deeply neglected space. 

Their reporting has exposed some appalling realities—with one writer describing a school with 131 learners crammed into one classroom—and stories have continued to focus on growing teacher vacancies, which leave remaining staff overwhelmed. A recent study by another laudable institution that continues to focus on education  Research on Socio-Economic Policy at Stellenbosch University showed that half of all surveyed  teachers who are desperate to leave the profession with teachers describing a system where it’s almost like they spend more time on paperwork than in front of their students—drowning in admin, unable to teach- and facing  relentless pressure from parents at well-functioning schools. 

If children could issue press releases or speak in Parliament, there would likely be far more urgency to fix the system. But because they can’t, they’re too often ignored. 

There’s a lesson in this for business too. Many leaders remain silent—fearful of upsetting the government or being seen as too “political”. But business silence means your needs, and the burdens your workforce faces—including outdated laws and stifling regulation—are also ignored. If organised business, agriculture, and industry don’t speak up about their needs, they too risk being overlooked until the next crisis hits. 

Having a voice—and choosing not to use it—means you’re less likely to have support when your challenges go unheard. 
Children need others to speak up for them, and those at The Daily Maverick have done so. 

But businesses and adults need to speak up for themselves and for our economic growth—they cannot rely on the media alone to carry their voice without being willing to use it.