Monday, September 30, 2019

South Africa’s Education System Needs


South Africa’s Education System Needs an Overhaul, not Band-Aids



Picture source: Mediamodifier

Money Spent on Education is a Priority


For its 2018/19 budget, South Africa committed to spending R246 billion on education. This is over 16.5% of its budget.  This is more than an African country like Kenya spends on its students. Amazingly, as a proportion of budget, it is also more than Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

 The Education Budget is Not Yielding Results


But higher spending has simply not led to better education outcomes in South Africa. The stats are all over the Internet. Eight out of ten South African grade fours cannot read with understanding. After four years of schooling, children are still not literate. But the problem goes back even further than this. Studies have shown that already nine out of ten pupils struggling to read in grade one will not catch up by grade four. Already the foundation that should be laid in grade R and grade one is lacking. And 75% of pupils struggling in grade 4 will never catch up in reading skills by the time they reach high school.

South Africa’s performance in maths and science is among the worst in the world. Fewer and fewer students are taking these subjects to matric. At a 30% pass mark, our matric certificate lacks international quality to begin with. Only 37% of matriculants passed maths with 40% or more. Even locally, further study is not an option with these marks. With a pass rate of 30% matriculants cannot enter local universities even though they have a matric certificate.

A Proposed Solution that won’t fix anything


The focus should be on remedying the structural problems in our foundation phase. Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has announced another strategy, however. What the department proposes is an evaluation in grade 9. This General Education Certificate (GEC) will evaluate that children have the basic skills of reading and mathematical comprehension. They can then decide which education stream they want to embark on.

There are three pathways that a learner can then decide on. These are academic pathway, the technical vocational pathway and the technical or occupational pathway. The technical vocational pathway aims to produce at least ten thousand artisans a year.

This would be commendable. But the fact is the real problem has been already assessed. And it is being ignored. Our young learners cannot read when they reach grade 4. Giving them another test five years later that we know they will likely fail is not going to help anything. Before introducing the GEC, we should be ensuring that reading comprehension is being addressed. Basic maths skills should be imparted to our grade 1’s to 3’s.

Our country does lack artisans. More will definitely be a boost for the country’s economy. And a focus on learning these skills will mean that children who excel in practical skills will have a career path that might be overlooked by many right now. But artisans need to be able to read, and read well. And our schooling is not producing matriculants that can read. Our artisans need to be mathematically literate too.

The Focus Needs to be on the Foundation Phase


Studies have shown that producing young children than can read and do maths is the key to future academic success. The South African education system needs an overhaul if it is ever to produce such learners. Focusing on getting matrics to pass by lowering the standard of the pass requirement is not going to solve the problem. If anything it is going to compound the challenges this country faces. These are challenges such as joblessness and unemployability. 

Focus must be on implementing a learning system that gives us grade 4’s that can read. And that can read with understanding. They must be able to do basic maths at this stage, too. This is the surest way to ensure that when our students are in grade 12, they will be able to pursue whatever tertiary training they need. This will give them the required skills to attain the certifications that will make them valuable employees. These certifications will then open doors to fulfilling and profitable careers.

Remedial Education is a Key Component to Solving this Crisis


To assist those students that are struggling, a more remedial approach should be followed. In primary school, we need teachers with the ability to help students catch up on reading and mathematics. This will also help us avoid the remedial crisis that the USA is facing. Many of their school leavers spend a lot of money on expensive post-high school remedial classes. The annual spend adds up to billions of dollars each year. Many of these students do not complete these expensive courses. Even fewer then complete a tertiary qualification. This means literally billions of dollars wasted on incomplete education.

By focusing spending on the formative years of schooling, we can avoid this trap. If we can see that the millions of students who have fallen behind are helped to catch up, we can have success. Matriculants that can pursue further qualifications are desperately needed for long-term success in this country.

The long-term goal would be to produce learners that don’t fall behind. But we need to assist our current learners. They need to gain the reading and maths skills required to be productive members of society. And they need these skills now.  Remedial learning will be a key to see that need met.

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