Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro The other day, I eavesdropped on pupils talking about the quality of teaching in their school and by extension the competence of their teachers. Their specific targets were some of the products emerging from our teacher colleges and passed on to our schools. The pupils were least impressed with some of them. This conversation somehow struck a chord with me about the state of education in Our Land of the Brave, in particular the failures we have been experiencing in schools with a big army of scholars joining the ranks of the unemployed, the idle and the hopeless every year. The problems bedeviling our education system are many and varied. One of them is the very concern of these pupils who seemed little impressed with some of those tasked with ensuring that those in our schools, they themselves either to one day become teachers or whatever, are properly prepared for the lives beyond school. But how can they be competitive and competent in the life-after-school if the process they go through leaves much to be desired like these pupils believe, and some of those running the process are equally deficient if not totally unable? As varied as the factors that are involved, some of which could be laid at the door of the pupils, parents and other stakeholders, for the pupils in question the problem is some of the teachers, period! Yes, it may be too early to judge these teachers given that some may just have come out of college and have as yet to gain the necessary experience but to these pupils, it was more than a matter of experience. To them, some of these teachers are simply teachers by default or by hook and crook. Could it be that there is a vicious chain at work here in the sense that those even responsible for training our teachers in the colleges are deficient and unable? I am sure these are no easy questions begging ready and easy answers. However, I am inclined to agree with the pupils that somehow some of the teachers our colleges produce may not be the best. Simply, a part of the intake crop may not be necessarily our cream of the crop, academic and otherwise. Firstly, I would venture to argue that some of those opting for teaching in this age when teaching has lost its aura and glamour as a profession, do so as a last option either for want of points to allow them to pursue any other field or enter university or polytechnic, or resources to further pursue their dream careers elsewhere other than at the colleges of education. This is not necessarily to say some of those enrolling in teacher colleges may not be good but they might not be the best or even second best or have the necessary motivation. I understand to enter such colleges normally one simply needs just to obtain the threshold points one needs to pass Grade 12, which is 23 points. In fact I understand some colleges even admit students below this threshold while at only one I understand the requirement is 25 points and above. Yes, this may no longer be the case but I wonder to what extent we are seeing school leavers with a good grade in Grade 12 entering our colleges of education? I am open to be enlightened. I am not merely sucking things out of my thumb but I personally know of some applicants who tried to enter these teacher colleges just because they could scrape together, heaven’s know after how may years, the requisite 23 points. Their glaring academic inhibitions notwithstanding, some may have been admitted and may be among those the pupils are complaining about. Somehow, if the situation is as I think it still is, some caution begs with regard to the standard and quality of the candidates we enroll in our teacher colleges. We may be by admitting students who just meet the mark in our colleges providing an equally important social valve in terms of absorbing candidates who otherwise would be joining the undesirable ranks of the unemployed. However, by letting the blind lead the blind we may at the same time be abetting a vicious cycle touching the very nerve of our very stepping platform, our schools, which must provide a solid preparatory system for our children for their future careers whatever they may be.