RACE, EQUITY, AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 27


(grades 1–4), and senior primary (grades 5–7) are aggregated as primary schools, and secondary (grades 8–12), junior secondary (grades 8–10), and senior sec- ondary (grade 11–12) are grouped as secondary schools. In these figures, distri- butions are shown for schools for different former population groups—African (African), white, colored, Indian/Asian—and for new schools. For formerly African and new schools, LER distributions have long upper tails. For the sake of display, values of LER larger than 200 were omitted in these graphs, though there are substantial numbers of formerly African and new schools in this range. On the other hand, the distributions are shown to be concentrated within a range of relatively small values for formerly white, colored, and Indian/Asian schools. This basic characterization of differences in LER distributions across former population groups is valid for all types of schools—primary and secondary. The main findings on cross-group differences are quite similar in both primary and secondary schools. To statistically characterize differences in the LER distribution between formerly African schools and the other schools, I use Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests (Tables 2.3A and 2.3B). Table 2.3A shows two basic findings. First, in the country as a whole, the LER distributions of African primary and secondary schools are statistically different from those of white, colored, and Indian/ Asian schools in 1996 and 2000. In particular, the test statistics show that the distance between African and white has not narrowed from 1996 to 2000. Table 2.3B shows provincial-level results for the Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. At the provincial level I find that the results differ between provinces in 1996 and 2000. In 1996 the distance between African and white primary schools is found to be significant in many provinces, except Free State and North West, where the distances to colored, Indian/Asian, and other groups are also insignificant. In 2000, however, African and white primary schools are significantly different in all provinces. In this case, the difference remains quite robust between African and white in post-apartheid South Africa. Find- ings for secondary schools are stronger than those for primary schools. In Free State and North West, where African and white are not different in primary schools, the distance is statistically significant in both 1996 and 2000. The findings clearly confirm our prior perception that formerly African schools, at both the primary and secondary levels, have not improved rela- tive to formerly white schools, even under the post-apartheid government. This finding does not directly imply that African children in the country suffer more severely from low quality of education than white children. In post-apartheid South Africa, all schools must not discriminate among children based on their origins, and children of any racial origin are selectively admit- ted. However, since most communities are still racially homogeneous, the


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150