June is an important month for young people in South Africa as we commemorate the march by the youth of 1976 who demanded better education. Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) would like to commend Daily Sun for accessing children’s views regarding a march that was held to the district education office where the children demanded for their right to education. In the article, “Protest after department removes all teachers” (18/06/2021) the children who participated in the march are given an opportunity to express their views on this important issue. For this, the article deserves a GLAD.^[1]

The article by Xolile Nkosi is about the march by pupils from Landokuhle Secondary School in KwaZulu Natal, where learning and teaching had not taken place for two weeks. This is because the Department of Education allegedly gave all teachers letters of displacement, leaving the school with no teachers.

The story has a fair balance of viewpoints from four stakeholders; the Department of Education, School Governing Body, parents and pupils who are interviewed by the journalist.

A 15-year-old pupil, who is interviewed in the article, unambiguously expresses their opinion on the matter saying, “We want our hard-working dedicated teachers back. The department can keep the lazy teachers because they don’t teach; they just sit in the staff room.”

Including the views of children on matters that directly affect them is vital. By doing so, Daily Sun has adhered to MMA’s Editorial Guidelines and Principles for Reporting on Children in the Media, which encourage journalists to access children which state, “Children have a right to have their views heard on matters that affect them, so try and include them.”^[2]

We encourage all media to continue highlighting children’s views in this manner, especially on issues about education. This is very important to children and their opinions are valuable.

MMA congratulates Daily Sun and Xolile Nkosi for the comprehensive, courageous reporting and respecting the right of children to speak on issues that concern them and affect their lives directly.

By Ntsako Manganyi

[1] On a weekly basis, MMA highlights cases of good practice, where the media has promoted the rights and welfare of children, otherwise referred to as “GLADs”, as well as instances where the rights and welfare of children have been compromised through irresponsible media coverage, referred to as “MADs

[2] http://54.217.43.239/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mma_editorial_guideline.pdf