KEY CHALLENGES FACING CHILDREN
KEY CHALLENGES FACING CHILDREN
There is a drop-out problem from age 15 onwards. While the attendance rate for 14 year olds is 98%, this drops to 95% for 15 year olds, 93% for 16 year olds, and 88% for 17 year-olds (De Lannoy & Lake, 2008).
South Africa rates relatively well on standard indicators of access to education. For example, in 2008 the overall gross enrolment rate for the primary phase (grades 1-7) was 98,0%, although this dropped to 85,0% for the secondary phase (grades 8-12). For the two grades combined, the gross enrolment rate was 92,0% (National Treasury, 2009: 27).
The standard indicators must, however, be treated with caution in that many learners are not the correct age for the grade in which they are enrolled due, among others, to high rates of repetition.
DECLINE IN ENROLMENT:
The general household survey (GHS) con- ducted by Statistics South Africa in July 2009 found that 81,2% of persons aged 7-24 were attending educational institutions (Statistics South Africa, 2010: 10ff). Our own calculations for the age group 7-17 find that 96,4% of these children were reported to be attending educational institutions.
The survey found a small decline in enrol- ment rates in most provinces between 2007 and 2009, which it suggests could reflect the impact of the international economic crisis on households. Indeed, when asked to give the reason for non-attendance, lack of mon- ey emerges as the most common reason.
IMPACT OF NO FEE SCHOOL POLICY:
The survey also found that 44,5% of those who were attending educational institu- tions in 2009 were not paying tuition fees. This could reflect the impact of the no-fee school policy. The percentage of non-payers was highest in Free State and Eastern Cape (66% each). The percentage was lowest in Gauteng (26%) and West-
ern Cape (32%), in line with lower levels of poverty in these provinces.
PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY LEARNERS:
When asked what problems enrolled learn- ers experienced at schools, the most com- mon response was lack of books, which affected 7% of learners. However, in re- sponse to a separate question, 18,8% of the learners said that they experienced vio- lence, corporal punishment or verbal abuse at school. Corporal punishment was most commonly reported in Eastern Cape (26%) and KwaZulu-Natal (25%).
SCHOOL FEEDING SCHEME:
61,6% of public school learners said that they received food at school. This bene- fit was most common in Northern Cape (87%), with Eastern Cape the next most common, (70%).
ATTENDANCE:
The attendance rate was 96,5% for children aged 7 to 17 years in 2009. This means that approximately 400 000 children were not enrolled in or attending school.
Non-attendance and drop out are caused by a range of factors including poverty; the stoppage (in 2007) of the child support grant at age 15 years (this has now been ad- dressed by the extension to 18 announced
at the end of 2009); lack of trained staff and accessible facilities in mainstream schools for children with moderate disabilities; chil- dren needing to stay at home to care for a sick parent, caregiver or sibling; children heading households; unhappiness with the poor quality of schooling; and lack of access for foreign children (see Fleisch et al, 2009; Dieltiens & Meny-Gilbert, 2009).
TEENAGE PREGNANCY:
For young women, pregnancy repeat- edly emerges as the single most important cause for dropping out and non-attendance (Social Surveys & Centre for Applied Legal Studies, 2009).
SCHOOL CONDITIONS:
There are still discrepancies between prov- inces in terms of the conditions under which education is provided. Overall, the 2009 Provincial Budgets and Expenditure Review (National Treasury: 2005) reported an average of 31 learners to each educator in public ordinary schools 33 : KwaZulu- Natal; 29 : Free State.
There are even bigger differences in the av- erage number of learners per school, which ranges from 358 in Eastern Cape to 863 in Gauteng. The smaller numbers in the more rural provinces reflect the less dense popu- lation and can result in small schools with multi-grade classes. This makes learning more difficult for both teachers and learners.
Budlender, D. & Proudlock, P. (2010) Child centred analysis of government’s budget 2010 - 2012. Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
www.ed.org.za
CHAPTER 1 | INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
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