When Budget Ties Your Hands, the Gap Stays Open
I sat across from a manager at a TVET college recently. Young people studying trades like beauty, hospitality, woodwork, and sewing. Talented people.
Motivated people.
He told me something I have not stopped thinking about.
“I have to switch to Xhosa just to teach the course. Because their English is that far behind.”
The course is written entirely in English. The qualification is in English. The interviews they will face when they leave, conducted entirely in English.
And he is teaching it in Xhosa, because that is the only way to bridge the gap between what the curriculum assumes and what his students have.
This is not a criticism of the manager.
He is doing what any good teacher does. He is meeting his students where they are. He is finding a way through.
But here is what I keep coming back to: those same students will walk into job interviews conducted entirely in English, by employers who will form an impression in the first 90 seconds. There will be no patient explanation.
There will just be questions; in ENGLISH!
The proposal was declined. Budget. Let me state, a VERY WELL PRICED PROPOSAL; as this is also work I love and compromise with pricing.
I understand budget constraints. I work with schools, colleges, and NPOs across the Western Cape, and I know the reality. There is never enough money for everything that TRULY matters.
I understand budget constraints. I work with schools, colleges, and NPOs across the Western Cape, and I know the reality. There is never enough money for everything that TRULY matters.
I understand budget constraints. I work with schools, colleges, and NPOs across the Western Cape, and I know the reality. There is never enough money for everything that TRULY matters.
I understand budget constraints. I work with schools, colleges, and NPOs across the Western Cape, and I know the reality. There is never enough money for everything that TRULY matters.
I understand budget constraints. I work with schools, colleges, and NPOs across the Western Cape, and I know the reality. There is never enough money for everything that TRULY matters.
I understand budget constraints. I work with schools, colleges, and NPOs across the Western Cape, and I know the reality. There is never enough money for everything that TRULY matters.