Educational Problems in South Africa - Report Example

Educational Problems in South Africa Earlier the educational system in South Africa used to be such that it quickly became the envy of the western world, but now it has deteriorated considerably. Although, speculated by some that it is still relatively better as compared to the other African nations, there still needs to be some serious revamping done; especially in the sense that there needs to be proactive public debates and proper progressive dialogs in order to refurbish the system. At present, good education in Africa seems a distant reality especially if one is poor because it is so atrociously expensive that it is only available to those who can afford it. The poor people are not left with any option but to enroll themselves in inferior governmental schools. One of the educational problems in South Africa is that there is no emphasis on meritocracy i.e. students do not advance or push themselves forward on the basis of merit. On the other hand, if this is encouraged, it will lead to equity. In order to make this work, the educational system of South Africa needs to be cut off from politics, which is one of the biggest problems looming. When politicians exercise their political influence over education, it only serves to corrupt and disrupt the harmony and regularity of the system. According to Asharman Shanmugaratnam (Finance Minister and former Education Minister of Singapore), “the role of political leaders is to keep politics out of education.” For instance, in Singapore, the educational institutes, mostly universities charge full fees and give scholarships to the needy and students hailing from a low-income background. Furthermore, the government also advocates donations to universities and tries to match them one on one. The political opposition to charging fees needs to be overcome, which stands as one of the biggest problems. There was an eye-opening study, which was carried out by Africa’s Education Watch programme. This study revealed that 44% of South African parents were still reported to be paying some sort of a school registration fee for their child, despite of the fact that there are laws which state that primary education is free. The average fee per child was discovered to be $4.16 in the seven countries that were surveyed i.e. (Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda) and ironically all of them claim to impart free primary education. In addition, parents also seem to spend an exorbitant income on private tutors, exams and course books. There was also some research conducted in 2004, which revealed that around 20% of the primary school teachers in South Africa were absent during school hours. This is extremely startling and worrisome because teacher absenteeism and lack of interest on their part results in a haywire educational system. Consequently, children also play truant and are found to skip school hours. This in turn also affects the results of the school. There was a study conducted in 2007, which stated that if a teacher is found to be absent for one day a month in any South African school, it is reduces the scores of tests in Maths and English by an alarming 4-8%. Furthermore, it drastically ruins the parents’ expectations of what a school can offer to their children. They decide to keep their children at home rather than enrolling them in any institute. 1 Furthermore, research that has been conducted on South African education describes the schooling system in South Africa as one, which doesn’t impart education, but only hampers development. A teacher, Themba at a school called Sebokeng in Johannesburg, earlier used to be proud of teaching, but then there was a sudden wave of violence in the school, which proved to be so disturbing that she decided to leave the profession. I feel like a security guard, not a teacher, said Themba. Some mornings I dont bother getting out of bed. Students are out of control and parents do not care. So I ask myself, what am I here to do?  She cited that the school had potentially become a recruitment head-quarter for dacoits and also an abode for drug addicts and pushers. The desks were broken, the computer labs were almost empty and the windows were also smashed. In such miserable conditions and sorry state of affairs, the students could not study properly because the environment did not seem like an academic one; hence 75 percent of the students were compelled to repeat grades after failing their matriculation exams, which test them on basic comprehension and are compulsory for admission in universities. She said that even after 13 years of democracy, the educational system was still struggling hard to remove historical disparities. The class divide is very apparent in South African schools with the onset of the racial division and as reiterated earlier. Although, white students from black and middleclass backgrounds residing in white urban areas can afford to get a decent education, the black children in minority have to make do with poor and inferior education in rural areas and also some townships. South Africa being the regional economic giant of Africa is apparently the only country in Southern African that has missed the Millennium Development Goal of 2015 – that is to better and augment access to primary education. According to World Bank statistics, the enrollment rates for schools in Africa decreased considerably from 92 percent in 1998 to 89 percent in 2004. Even though there is a fluctuation in the numbers from time to time, it has still not increased to a proper level. The nongovernmental Institute of Justice and Reconciliation postulated in a recent study that 80% of the schools in South Africa offer such substandard education that it’s a major obstacle in economic and social development. According to the experts, the low and deplorable standard of education in South African schools can be attributed to several factors. The first is violence which also includes – a seemingly common phenomenon in African schools. Other than that, HIV/AIDS and poverty have also augmented the suffering. This disease affects teachers and students both, in a country, which is approximated to have nearly 5.5 million HIV positive people. Furthermore, an increasing amount of strain and stress are making dozens of teachers like Themba resign from the profession and there aren’t enough options or recruits to fill the job positions and vacancies. Most of the black schools are in a serious jeopardy and there is no proper planning or policy implementation. 2 According to some of the people, the root of the problem is that there isn’t any proper management, but some people also blame teachers for not being aware of the curriculum and also lacking the drive and vigor to do their jobs properly. The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) assert that it’s extremely unjustified to keep finding fault with the teachers, who do not have the proper encouragement and support to execute proper educational practices due to the fact that they keep on changing constantly. Furthermore, teachers are also pressurized greatly under a lot of bureaucratic paperwork – another major problem in the educational system. We need better training and to get education authorities to start boosting morale,’’ says Jon Lewis, spokesperson for South African Democratic Teachers’ Union.  In retrospect, the educational system in South Africa from 1948-1994 provided a very good mechanism and vehicle, to implement the rules of the apartheid. There were conflicts and discourses which existed at practically every level. This included infrastructure, ratios of students and teachers, the mandatory and required attendance and also the potential availability of books. However, this situation was inadvertently worsened by the “liberation, now education later” standpoint, which was adopted during the years of the anti-apartheid struggle. The learning and reading culture became very rhetorical and redundant and schools mainly became the breeding ground for protests. Hence, it is a sad reality that at present only 14% of the black students in South Africa completes their high school as opposed to 65% of their white peers. When the new government came into being in 1995 led by President Mandela, there were some steps taken to improve the educational standards, the access and racial equality prevailing in the society. Even though these steps did prove to be fairly successful, again it resulted in the unintentional outcome of decline of the quality of teaching in many schools and was also relatively unsuccessful in bringing any extensive change in the overall superiority of primary education. 3 Furthermore, getting access to educational resources has been a very long-standing problem in South Africa. Most of the state-run schools i.e. around 80% lack a library. These schools especially suffer from overpopulation, and dilapidated buildings as discussed earlier in the paper. Another problem is the multiplicity of languages, which is another hindrance in South Africa’s complicated educational system because the country officially recognizes 11 languages. Though it would be hard to erase the increasing levels of manipulation at the hands of students, teachers, officials and politicians in South Africa, but considering how important education is for a country and an exam being the tests of the knowledge one receives in schools, colleges or universities, there should be proper steps and policies implemented to upgrade the downtrodden education system. There is a lack of regularity in South Africa’s examination systems. Discipline comes from firmness and South African lags behind in practicing that. Therefore, strict policies should be formulated, which will eventually bring about a change. References Hamper, Sarah, Education-South Africa, “Schooling That Hampers Development” Published on 30th March, 2007, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37155, Accessed 4th January, 2012 Consortium for Research on Educational Access, “Transitions and Equity (CREATE), The Educational Roadmap in South Africa”, Published in September, 2009, http://www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/Policy_Brief_9.pdf, Accessed 4th January, 2012 Mda, Vuyelwa, Thobeka, “Critical Issues in South African Education after 1994”, Published in 2000, http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=s424NLrIGAAC&pg=PA151&source=gbs_quotes&vq=%22respect+for+human+rights+and+fundamental+freedoms.+It+shall+promote+understanding,+tolerance+and+friendship+among+all+nations,+racial+or+religious%22#v=onepage&q=%22respect%20for%20human%20rights%20and%20fundamental%20freedoms.%20It%20shall%20promote%20understanding%2C%20tolerance%20and%20friendship%20among%20all%20nations%2C%20racial%20or%20religious%22&f=false, Accessed 4th January, 2011 Read More