Poverty to blame for dropouts
Thousands not making matric in province
ABOUT 70 000 Eastern Cape pupils who were registered in Grade 10 in 2015 failed to make it to matric, with many of them having dropped out of the school system.
This is according to the provincial education department, which revealed to the Bhisho legislature that, of the 152 230 pupils in Grade 10 in 2015, only 82 257 managed to register for Grade 12 last year.
This means that 69 973 provincial pupils did not make it to Grade 12 because they failed or dropped out.
The provincial government, in a report submitted by education MEC Mandla Makupula to the Bhisho legislature on February 28, blamed poverty.
In a written parliamentary reply to questions posed by DA MPL Edmund van Vuuren, Makupula also blamed pupils who did not think a school qualification would find them better jobs, for the alarming number of school dropouts in the province.
“There were 152 230 Grade 10 pupils in the province in 2015, of which 25% or 38 000 were repeating Grade 10, while there were only 82 257 pupils who registered for Grade 12 in 2017.
“It is not easy to explain in exact terms why pupils leave school before Grade 12, but research and ground level reports suggest that pupils do not want to continue with school because of poverty and the need to try to find a job,” said Makupula.
Other pupils, Makupula said, think a high school qualification will not assist them to get a job, while others go on to further their studies at Further Education and Training colleges or become work seekers.
Asked by Van Vuuren what was done to limit the number of dropouts, Makupula said his department had over the years “introduced a number of career guidance and learner support strategies”.
“The development and implementation active of an inclusive approach to education, for example, is key to keeping pupils in school for longer through early identification of barriers to learning and assessment for remedial support.
“Provision of one nutritious meal on all school days, full service schools and the training of teachers in public ordinary schools on inclusive education, are also intended to keep pupils in school,” Makupula said.
He also pointed at government’s no-fees schools as another way of trying to keep pupils in schools.
Both Makupula and his department administration head, superintendent-general Themba Kojana, could not be reached yesterday for further comment.
Van Vuuren yesterday said it was a dire concern that so many pupils did not matriculate.
He said sometimes poor performing pupils in Grade 10 were forced to drop out because of the pressure from their schools “which want nothing to do with poor performing students, but instead prioritise those they think will assist in raising such school’s matric pass rate”.
He said dropouts were also contributing to the high unemployment rate in the province, as they struggled to find decent work opportunities.
The legislature’s education portfolio committee chairman Mzoleli Mrara said: “It basically means that they now cannot contribute to the future development of the province.
“It also adds to high crime and pregnancy rates and thus complicates development in our societies.” — dispatch.co.za