Although most kids in South Africa have seen the insides of a classroom, the education they received has been far from quality.
As mentioned earlier, South Africa has one of the highest rates of education enrollment in the continent but the quality of education has been up to standard. According to a study, only half of the kids with basic education can do basic maths. Findings also show that teachers were not held to any standard, so they basically did anything they wanted in the classroom. The study also recorded an alarming rate of teacher absenteeism and found that many teachers especially maths teachers were not trained and had the right qualifications to teach in the classroom.
In South Africa, basic education is compulsory until the ninth grade and instead of more kids being in school the opposite is happening across the country, especially in the rural areas.
Unfortunately, the main cause of the high dropouts is poverty. When a child is saddled with financial constraints and responsibilities, the first thing on their mind is money and the last, is school.
Another cause for low-quality education and the huge disparities between rich and poor is the lack of early development programs in many schools. The teachers do not teach the kids basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills. And once these fundamental blocs are not taught, the student struggles to grasp more complex topics and subjects as they go further. A study shows that only 35.3% of children from ages zero to four had early development learning from a nursery, creche, pre-kindergarten etc. Teachers are not the only ones to be blamed but parents as well. Many parents don’t help their kids develop the love of reading at a tender age by buying them books. They also do not draw, colouring or watch educative kids’ programs with their children.
South African Poverty and Education Correlation
Unfortunately, poverty directly impacts education in South Africa, and the situation is prevalent in many rural areas. There are several barriers to education in rural areas and they include the lack of resources like electricity, water, good books long distances between school and home. If a child doesn’t have electricity, how are they expected to learn? If they do not have good books how are they expected to read? If there is no reliable transportation how are they expected to show up given the long distance? Until we met, the basic needs of these kids they will never have a complete educational experience.
