the deputy president yesterday referred to the situation in the mbashe municipality as tragic i_letter worked in that municipality and i_letter have seen first hand how children with all the potential and promise in the world are being denied anything resembling a quality education many of these children come out of grade seven not even able to read and write and have to suffer the indignity of teachers only coming to school for three days of the week this is certainly a tragedy and it requires real political will and leadership to ensure that the current lack of accountability in the education sector does not deny our youth the opportunity of living out their dreams the one thousand nine hundred and seventy six uprising was essentially about the youth rising up against an oppressive education system that was curtailing their opportunities in life it is therefore right that we reflect on whether our current education system is offering the youth a real path out of poverty unfortunately for millions of south african youth this is sadly not the case