History could become compulsory at SA schools by 2023

Listen as Adam Rogers from Reddam House Umhlanga weighs in on History being made compulsory in schools below, or read the details under the podcast.

My schooling years seem like a distant memory to me - I'm not saying that I'm old, it just feels that time has flown by so quickly. I completed High School at Glenwood High and took English, Afrikaans, Maths, Biology, Geography, and Accounting as subjects. 

The languages and Maths were compulsory, and the rest was up to us. I remember how divided I was when deciding what additional subjects to do. 

In the modern day, the same rule of compulsory subjects applies with the addition of Life Orientation, which was introduced in the late 90's. It now seems that History may be added to the list as well.

EWN reports that a task team has put forward recommendations for the subject to become compulsory in the last three years of High School, and to phase out Life Orientation. It's been said that History helps students to solve problems and assists in analysing situations. 

One of the main issues is: would we have enough teachers available to teach South African learners? Universities would need to have enough space in their lecture rooms to accommodate. More teachers do mean more salaries, putting more pressure on the government to have funds to cough up, and more pressure on our economy. It's a ripple effect.

Read: KZN Education investigates misuse of funds at Durban school

But the bigger question here is: are additional compulsory subjects at school even necessary? Is it not wasting a learner's time studying about things which may not be essential for them in their future? Surely they should be focusing on subjects which are important to them?

What are your views?