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Education for All (EFA)

Country Report: South Africa
(Update)

2012

Published by the Department of Basic Education 222 Struben Street Private Bag X895, Pretoria, 0001 Telephone: 012 357 3000 Fax: 012 323 0601

Website: http://www.education.gov.za

ISBN: © Department of Basic Education, 2012

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................................................... viii

1. 2. 3

BACKGROUND ...........................................................................................................................1
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Introduction ............................................................................................................................1 Education for All: a development imperative.........................................................................1 Education for All goals ............................................................................................................3 Measuring progress towards the Education for All goals.......................................................3

EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA .................................................................................................4
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4

The right to education ............................................................................................................4 Governance and organisation.................................................................................................4 The provision of education .....................................................................................................5 Expenditure on education and training ..................................................................................6

GOAL 1: EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION...............................................................7
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.6

Introduction ............................................................................................................................7

Policy and the legislative landscape of ECD in South Africa ...................................................8

The non-profit sector and community provision....................................................................9 Participation of 0-to-4 year olds in education ........................................................................9 Participation of 5-year-olds in education .............................................................................10 Participation in Grade R........................................................................................................11 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................12

4

GOAL 2: ACCESS TO PRIMARY EDUCATION............................................................................13
4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

Participation rates in primary education ..............................................................................13

Participation of 7-15-year-olds in compulsory basic education ...........................................14

Out-of-school children ..........................................................................................................14 Disability................................................................................................................................17 Orphans in the education system.........................................................................................19 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................20

iii

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6

Access to secondary education.............................................................................................21

Enrolment of 16-to-18-year-olds in educational institutions ...............................................22

Further Education and Training colleges ..............................................................................23

The case for a Human Resources Development (HRD) Strategy for South Africa................24

Youth skills development......................................................................................................25 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................25

6

GOAL 4: ADULT LITERACY RATE ..............................................................................................26
6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5

Measuring literacy ................................................................................................................26 Adult literacy rates................................................................................................................27 Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET)...........................................................................28 Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign...................................................................................29 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................30

78

GOAL 5: GENDER PARITY.........................................................................................................31
7.1 7.2

Defining key terms ................................................................................................................31 Gender Parity Index (GPI) .....................................................................................................31

GOAL 6: QUALITY EDUCATION................................................................................................39
8.1 8.2
Learner performance in national and international assessments........................................40 Learner achievement and outcomes in national assessments.............................................42

8.2.1 Grade 12 learner performance ................................................................................................42 8.2.2 Annual National Assessment (ANA).........................................................................................43

8.3 Educator qualifications ............................................................................................................45

8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7

Learner to Educator Ratio (LER)............................................................................................46

Prevalence of HIV and AIDS among school-going children...................................................47

Safety at schools ...................................................................................................................48 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................49

9.1 9.2
Delivery Agreement with the Presidency .............................................................................50 Action Plan to 2014: Towards the realisation of schooling 2025 – A long-term plan for transforming basic education in South Africa ..................................................................................51

iv

9.3 9.4 9.5
Review of the curriculum......................................................................................................51 The Workbook Project..........................................................................................................51 Teacher Development ...........................................................................................................51
9.5.1 Initial teacher education...........................................................................................................52

9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9
Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI)...........................................52 Foundations for learning campaign....................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. National school nutrition programme (nsnp)........................................................................53 Orphans in the schooling system ..........................................................................................53
9.10 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................54

10

CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................................56
Bibliography ..........................................................................................................................................60

v

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Percentage of 0-4 year-olds attending educational institutions by province, 2002 –

2011 ...........................................................................................................................................9

Table 2: Percentage of 5 year olds children attending educational institutions by province,

2002–2011 ...............................................................................................................................10

Table 3: Enrolment in Grade R and Gross Enrolment Rates for Grade R in ordinary schools,

1999-2011 ................................................................................................................................11 Table 4: Grade R GER by Province, 2002 - 2011 ......................................................................12

Table 5: Participation of 7-13 year olds in education institutions by gender, 2002 – 2011....14 Table 6: Percentage of 7 to 15 years old children attending educational institution by

province, 2002-2011................................................................................................................14

Table 7: Percentage of 7 to 15 years old children out of school by gender, 2002-2011.........16 Table 8: Percentage of 7 to 15 years old children out of school by population group, 2002-

2011 .........................................................................................................................................16

Table 9: Percentage of 16 to 18 years old youth not attending education institutions by

gender, 2002-2011...................................................................................................................17

Table 10: Secondary Gross Enrolment Rate (GER), 2002-2011...............................................22 Table 11: Percentage of 16 to 18 years old attending educational institution by province,

2002-2011 ................................................................................................................................23

Table 12: Number of learners, educators and institutions in public FET colleges, 2005 – 2011

..................................................................................................................................................24

Table 13: Number and proportion of the population aged 20 and over by level of education,

..................................................................................................................................................27

Table 14: Number of learners, educators and institutions in ABET programmes by province:

2005 – 2008 .............................................................................................................................28 Table 15: Kha Ri Gude delivery by Province: 2008 – 2011 ......................................................29

Table 16: Percentage of 0-4 year old children attending ECD facility by gender, 2002 - 2011

..................................................................................................................................................32

Table 17: GPI of 5 year olds attending education institutions, 2002 -2011............................33 Table 18: Percentage of 7 to 15 years old children attending educational institution by

gender, 2002-2011...................................................................................................................33

Table 19: Gross enrolment Rate (GER) of female and male learners in primary and secondary

grades, 1997-2011 ...................................................................................................................33

Table 20: National Senior Certificate (NSC) candidates and achievement by gender, 2008 –

2011 .........................................................................................................................................34

Table 22: Levels and trends in pupil achievement for SACMEQ countries, Reading score and

mathematics score respectively: 2000 – 2007 ........................................................................40

Table 23: Overall mean scores of Grade 6 learners and teachers in Reading and Mathematics

in 2000 and 2007. ....................................................................................................................41

Table 24: Average percentage scores attained in the Grade 3 and Grade 6 ANA after

remarking, 2011.......................................................................................................................44 Table 25: Percentage of qualified educators, 2008 - 2010......................................................46

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