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. BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Education for All: a development imperative ......................................................................... 1 1.3 Education for All goals ............................................................................................................ 3 1.4 Measuring progress towards the Education for All goals ....................................................... 3 2. EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA ................................................................................................. 4 2.1 The right to education ............................................................................................................ 4 2.2 Governance and organisation ................................................................................................. 4 2.3 The provision of education ..................................................................................................... 5 2.4 Expenditure on education and training .................................................................................. 6 3 GOAL 1: EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION ............................................................... 7 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 7 3.2 Policy and the legislative landscape of ECD in South Africa ................................................... 8 3.3 The non-profit sector and community provision .................................................................... 9 3.4 Participation of 0-to-4 year olds in education ........................................................................ 9 3.5 Participation of 5-year-olds in education ............................................................................. 10 3.6 Participation in Grade R ........................................................................................................ 11 3.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 12 4 GOAL 2: ACCESS TO PRIMARY EDUCATION ............................................................................ 13 4.1 Participation rates in primary education .............................................................................. 13 4.2 Participation of 7-15-year-olds in compulsory basic education ........................................... 14 4.3 Out-of-school children .......................................................................................................... 14 4.4 Disability ................................................................................................................................ 17 4.5 Orphans in the education system ......................................................................................... 19 4.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 20 iii 5 GOAL 3: LEARNING NEEDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS ............................................... 21 5.1 Access to secondary education ............................................................................................. 21 5.2 Enrolment of 16-to-18-year-olds in educational institutions ............................................... 22 5.3 Further Education and Training colleges .............................................................................. 23 5.4 The case for a Human Resources Development (HRD) Strategy for South Africa ................ 24 5.5 Youth skills development ...................................................................................................... 25 5.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 25 6 GOAL 4: ADULT LITERACY RATE .............................................................................................. 26 6.1 Measuring literacy ................................................................................................................ 26 6.2 Adult literacy rates ................................................................................................................ 27 6.3 Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) ........................................................................... 28 6.4 Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign ................................................................................... 29 6.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 30 7 GOAL 5: GENDER PARITY......................................................................................................... 31 7.1 Defining key terms ................................................................................................................ 31 7.2 Gender Parity Index (GPI) ..................................................................................................... 31 8 GOAL 6: QUALITY EDUCATION ................................................................................................ 39 8.1 Learner performance in national and international assessments ........................................ 40 8.2 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 Learner to Educator Ratio (LER) ............................................................................................ 46 8.5 Prevalence of HIV and AIDS among school-going children ................................................... 47 8.6 Safety at schools ................................................................................................................... 48 8.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 49 9. KEY INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF EDUCATION ....................................................... 50 9.1 Delivery Agreement with the Presidency ............................................................................. 50 9.2 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 Review of the curriculum ...................................................................................................... 51 9.4 The Workbook Project .......................................................................................................... 51 9.5 Teacher Development ........................................................................................................... 51 9.5.1 Initial teacher education ........................................................................................................... 52 9.6 Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI)........................................... 52 9.7 Foundations for learning campaign ....................................... 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Bookmark not defined. 9.8 National school nutrition programme (nsnp) ........................................................................ 53 9.9 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 ...............................................................................................................................