SA’s education system ‘perpetuates poverty, inequality’

The results are in and only 41% of public school pupils who wrote matric examinations in 2023 received university entrance passes. This is a far cry from the 89% of pupils in private schools who received a bachelor pass.

To attain a university entrance pass, a matriculant needs a 40% mark for their home language and 50% for four other high-credit subjects, which excludes life orientation.

A bachelor pass allows the matriculant to apply for a degree programme at a university.

The glaring issue is the significant disparity in educational outcomes between public and private schools, creating a clear economic divide in access to higher education opportunities.

This discrepancy raises concerns about the equity of the education system in the country.

But what is the main instigator for this gap in educational quality and resources between public and private schools?

The African Transformation Movement has said it could lie in the quality of education children in public schools receive.

“The current system, while showing improvement in pass rates, often falls short in adequately preparing students for higher education,” the party said.

Amnesty International highlighted a number of issues which pupils in public school needed to deal with.

These included crumbling infrastructure and overcrowded classrooms.

The organisation described the education system as “broken and unequal, and perpetuating poverty and inequality”.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the country still suffered from significant challenges in the quality of educational achievement by almost any international metric.

The surprising aspect was that the IMF did not believe it was a lack of funding in the country, but more due to other factors.

“Money is clearly not the main issue, since the South Africa’s education budget is comparable to OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries as a percent of GDP [gross domestic product] and exceeds that of most peer sub-Saharan African countries in per capita terms.

“The main explanatory factors are complex and multifaceted and are associated with insufficient subject knowledge of some teachers, history, race, language, geographic location and socioeconomic status.

“Low educational achievement contributes to low productivity growth and high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality,” it said.

According to OECD, South Africa’s education system ranks 75th of 76 mainly rich countries.

To enhance educational progress in SA, the Stellenbosch University’s department of economics said it is crucial to focus on developing the capacity within the teaching force.

This involves establishing an institutional structure which addresses teacher pay, bursary programmes and interventions for existing teachers, to attract and retain top talent.

“Effective school management, particularly in selecting competent principals and management, is essential for creating an organised and conducive learning environment,” the department said.

“Strengthening relationships of accountability and support among stakeholders throughout the school system is also vital to prevent breakdowns in policy implementation due to capacity issues.”

But, it said, this requires aligning interests and incentives towards the common goal of educational improvement.

Additionally, sharpening accountability through an educational assessment framework, addressing language issues and improving the quality of early childhood development facilities are key components for overall educational enhancement, the university suggested.

Money is clearly not the main issue