By Graeme Bloch
A toxic mix of problems keeps South Africa's schools and educational institutions in a state of disaster, neither able to meet the skills needed in a growing economy nor able to provide jobs opportunities to youths.
Schools act as sites of exclusion and disappointment, when they should be pointing the way to excellence and achievement for all. The failures are well known.
South Africa is routinely outperformed in all standardised tests for literacy and maths. Our results are at the bottom in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and among the worst in Africa, despite higher spending and greater resources.
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Just 7 percent of schools produce 67 percent mathematics higher grade passes Just 7 percent of schools produce 67 percent mathematics higher grade passes while 79 percent produce a dismal 15 percent.
In the Western Cape, 85 percent of Grade 6 pupils at formerly white schools could read at 6th grade level in 2005; but only 5 percent of pupils at disadvantaged schools could match this feat.
In matric, disparities remain: 39,4 percent of black candidates failed last year compared to 1.6 percent of whites.
Exemptions for black students in matric in 2007 (10,9 percent versus 52 percent for whites) show that little has changed since 1991 when the figure for black students was 10,8 percent. Half of all black pupils drop out.
By any measure, 60-80 percent percent of our schools are dysfunctional, achieving poor education outcomes. It is largely black, rural and poor pupils who suffer.
What brilliant maths graduate will want to teach rather than be an engineer or entrepreneur? The recent Polokwane conference opened up space for policy review: to ask, honestly, what has gone wrong. Why have we not achieved what we hoped? Is anyone to blame? What can be done?
Resolutions at Polokwane suggest that grassroots involvement, including by ANC branches, would benefit both education and health.
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