Asmal promises schools overhaul

Cape Town - The new South African Education Minister, Mr Kader Asmal, pledged yesterday to replace guns in schools with books…

Cape Town - The new South African Education Minister, Mr Kader Asmal, pledged yesterday to replace guns in schools with books and gave himself five years to teach the country's nine million illiterate adults to read and write.

Mr Asmal, a former law lecturer at TCD, told reporters he was planning a revamp of the education system, which is plagued by inefficiency, indiscipline, crime and violence. "Teachers will be expected to teach," he said. Communities should support principals who take action against teachers who "are drunk, or sexually abusive towards children, or who are tardy, or who don't turn up," he added.