During the first week of my assignment I have learned a tremendous amount about South Africa. Casual conversations with folks from IBM, NGO Partner - Pyxera Global, and the Department of Education as well as visits to museums and historical sites has has informed me about the dramatic change that has taken place over the last 20 years in South Africa. Neighborhoods that were once all white are integrated, the homelands are no more. At the mall, black and white shoppers buy sneakers and eat frozen yogurt together without caring that such a thing was once unthinkable. In newly prosperous Soweto, Nelson Mandela's house is a museum crowded with black and white tourists Unlike so many countries that have been through similarly profound transitions, South Africa retains strong democratic institutions, including high-quality media, decent courts, and a well-organized civil society. There are huge opportunities in South Africa for things to improve and to a large degree this change begins with education.
My team has spent the first week trying to understand how
education in South Africa works,
what the issues are and where are the real opportunities for change in South Africa. We have spent more then 14 hours in the car from coast to rural areas meeting with the Dept of
Education, visiting schools and working with Subject advisers who help convert
the curriculum into actionable lessons. Seeing how that the majority of South Africans live in rural areas where poverty is high
and infrastructure is not great. This
provides a great deal of challenges for the South African Education system.
While South Africa’s
education system has been strongly criticized there has been a huge focus on improving
the situation. All South Africans have
the right to a basic education and in fact it is compulsory for all South
Africans from the age of seven (grade 1) to age 15, or the completion of grade
9 . Compared with most other countries, education gets a very large slice of
the public pie – around 20% of total state expenditure. It receives the largest
share of government spending. More money is always needed to address the huge
backlogs left by 40 years of apartheid education. Under that system, white
South African children received a quality schooling virtually for free, while
their black counterparts had only "Bantu education", a keystone of
the overall apartheid system. Although today's government is working to rectify
the imbalances in education, the apartheid legacy remains. Illiteracy rates
currently stand at around 18% of adults over 15 years old (about 9-million
adults are not functionally literate), teachers in township schools are poorly
trained. Despite the challenges, much has been achieved since apartheid
legislation was scrapped. Equity has yet to be achieved: almost 58.5% of whites
and around 51% of Indians enter higher education. While the rate for blacks is
12%. The reason for this is generally understood as poor quality primary and
secondary schooling, which is a priority for the current government. The
greatest challenges for schooling lie in the poorer, rural provinces such as
the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
There is no single owner of education. The central government provides a national
framework for school policy, but administrative responsibility lies with the
provinces. Power is further devolved to grassroots level via elected school
governing bodies, which have a significant say in the running of their schools. The central
government's newest strategy for turning education around is known as
"Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realization of Schooling 2025",
which aims to improve learning and the work of teachers. With a new curriculum at its heart, the focus
is on literacy and numeracy. Known as the national Curriculum and Assessment
Policy Statement (CAPS), the new curriculum provides very specific guidelines
to streamline what is taught in schools with the aim to close the divide
between well-resourced and poor schools.
In South Africa
school life spans 13 years or grades, from grade 0, otherwise known as grade R
or "reception year", through to grade 12 or "matric" – the
year of matriculation. The first phase is called General Education and Training
and runs from grade 0 to grade 9. The second phase is called Further Education
and Training. Further Education and Training takes place from grades 10 to 12,
and also includes career-oriented education and training offered in other
Further Education and Training institutions – technical colleges, community
colleges and private colleges. Diplomas and certificates are qualifications recognized
at this level. The matric pass rate, has
improved dramatically over the last 5 years. South Africa relies on the matric
pass rate as a significant marker of what's going on in its schools. There is a
huge correlation between passing “matric”
and the learner rising out of poverty. Other measures include the
introduction of standardized assessments of grade three, six and nine to better
track progress; an emphasis on early child development and universal access to
Grade R; ensuring learners have access to good quality textbooks; and improving
school infrastructure and strengthening school management. Teacher education
and development programs have also been strengthened, including funding for
bursaries for trainee teachers.
Class sizes tend to be very large. The average ratio of learners to teachers is
30.4 to one However we have heard of
class sizes being as large as 102 in a single classroom, The education of the
poorest of the poor remains a priority, one example of this is the National
Schools Nutrition Program, which gives many schoolchildren a cooked meal five
days a week. This program appears to
help draw kids into the school as it may be there only real meal of the day
As I work on this project I feel grateful to be in this
beautiful country, working on an issue that has clearly been identified as a priority
to assist in the healing of historic wounds and help the transformation of a
country.
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