Jackie Phamotse questions why children are failing Grade 1, Mzansi points fingers at parents and teachers

Jackie Phamotse took to X on Monday, 12 October 2026, to question why so many children are failing Grade 1
South Africans flooded the comments with blame directed at parents, teachers, screen time and the school system itself
One user argued children should not be able to fail until Grade 5, while others pointed fingers at informal daycares

Author and activist Jackie Phamotse has set X alight after raising a question that clearly touched a nerve with South African parents and educators. On Monday, 12 October 2026, Phamotse posted on X asking why children are failing Grade 1, and the responses poured in fast.

The post quickly attracted hundreds of replies, with peeps divided on who or what is to blame for young learners struggling at the most foundational level of formal schooling.

See the post below:

Parents, teachers or the system?

Many users were quick to point the finger at parents who they say are too distracted or exhausted to be involved in their children's learning.

@PaleFlowermco said:

"Parents have more relationships with their cellphones than with helping kids with homework and all."

@sku_man offered a more balanced take:

"Homeschooling is also important. Parents are relaxed instead of paying attention to their juveniles' education. Teachers can't bear all the responsibility and can only cover as much. Parents must fill in where a teacher left off."

But not everyone agreed that parents were the primary problem. @PrincessSkhu placed the responsibility squarely on educators:

"Teachers aren't doing their job; we used to easily pass Grade 1 just by attending school and not even touching books when we got home. Our parents used to come back very late, cook, we bathe and sleep, but we would still pass. Something's wrong with the current teachers."

@MsLerato_N broke down the issue into three factors:

"1. Too much homework. 2. Too much screen time because we are tired when we come from work. 3. Parents are expected to take the role of a teacher; we teach them at home, and teachers revise. But the biggest one is screen time, to be honest."

Several peeps questioned whether Grade 1 should even have a pass-or-fail system at all. @place_lanes wrote:

"Greedy primary schools. At that level, there shouldn't be a fail or a pass; send them through and keep it moving. Kids should start to be able to fail from serious grades..which is grade 5."

@Ndex_M echoed a similar thought, asking:

"Why does Grade 1 have homework to begin with? 🚮"

The state of informal childcare also came under fire. @Sho_Maps shared a personal experience:

"I went to drop my niece off at an informal daycare thingy. I asked them to be mindful of screen time and also brought books and toys for the little one. Guess what? They laughed at me like it's the most absurd thing they've ever heard..."

@Mmopi500yards was blunt about parental neglect:

"When you have kids running around pouring water on people, unsupervised, you'll realise parents don't care about their kids, ba itumela bale seyo as long as bale seyo ba dlala habana stress."

Jackie Phamotse questions why children are failing Grade 1, Mzansi points fingers at parents and teachers

Parents, teachers or the system?

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