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Annual National Assessment

SA education called into question

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:03

The World Economic Forum in May 2011 identified quality education as a key element in reducing unemployment and bridging the skills gap in many sectors. Amidst news that the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, yesterday announced shocking levels of literacy and numeracy and as we approach Education Week, beginning on 6 July 2011, one of the questions on everyone's lips is 'Are we good enough?'

* South African schools still face infrastructure backlogs such as water, sanitation, electricity, libraries and laboratories

* National average performance of grade six pupils in languages was 28% and for mathematics, 30%

* National average peformance of grade three pupils in literacy was 35% and in numeracy, 28%

* Only 3% of South African adults has a university degree or its equivalent

There has been many a debate about the quality of South African education compared to the rest of the world and this is one question which keynote speakers at the event will focus on.

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) reports that the quality of our education is dismal, not only in comparison to major players such as the UK and the US, but even in comparison to other poorer nations. Cas Prinsloo, Chief Research Specialist at the HSRC's education research unit quotes the reasons behind this poor performance as poor teacher training, a lack of skills, 'poor support for pupils in their homes and shortages of educational resources'.

Says Claire O'Connell, Conference Director of African Education Week, "A further problem faced by South Africa is the dual nature of our education system private schooling still offers a level of education comparable to the best in the world, whilst much of the state schooling system suffers from all of the problems mentioned above."

"When asking the question 'Are we good enough?', it is the state system which needs to answer, since this is where the majority of our pupils are schooled."

According to Unicef, 'education breaks the generational cycles of poverty and disease and is key to a nation's development and prosperity.' The organisation goes on to say that the groundwork has been laid in that South Africa has adopted the approach of education for all and has integrated development and reform objectives into national policy. The figures do seem to bear this out: in 2007/8, 5.2% of GDP was invested in primary and secondary education.

The flipside is not so rosy. Comments O'Connell, "In South Africa in 2007, only 3% of adults had a university degree or its equivalent, whilst in 19 other emerging market countries, the average was 9.2%." When looking at the world's 30 richest countries, this figure rose to 18% (source: Norwegian Council for Africa Africa News Update).

Furthermore, a 2010 submission to the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education by 'Equal Education' found that many South African schools still face infrastructure backlogs such as water, sanitation, electricity, libraries and laboratories. The paper also comments that there is sound research to support the theory that improved access to resources leads to improved outcomes.

So it would appear that the foundation for good education in South Africa has been laid, but clearly this is not enough. What else needs to happen to render our education system competitive on the global stage?

Some ideas put forward by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga in 2011 include:

Other issues which need to be addressed include violence in schools, non attendance due to a variety of factors (such as abuse, alcoholism and gangsterism) and inequality between male and female students.

South Africa clearly does not currently offer a level of education which will bridge the skills gap, or at least not across the board. The foundations have been laid, though and the budgets approved. What needs to happen now is a concerted and sustained effort to eradicate inequality between privileged and under privileged schools, meet basic infrastructure requirements for the poorest schools and concentrate on teacher development.

In time and with hard work, we can have a schooling system which is comparable to the best.

Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, is a keynote speaker at the upcoming African Education Week which will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre from 06 08 July 2011.