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Education
The Bill of Rights, contained in the Constitution, 1996 stipulates that everyone has the right to a basic education, including adult basic education and further education, which
the State, through reasonable measures, must progressively make available and accessible.
Education continues to receive the biggest share of the country's budget with an allocation of R165 billion to the departments of basic education and of higher education and training for 2010/11, R17 billion more than in 2009/10.
In February 2010, President Jacob Zuma announced new measures to boost the country's education system. From 2010, all grade three, six and a sample of grade nine learners write annual national assessments that are independently moderated. In 2011, more than 19 000 schools participated.
At the July 2010 Cabinet Lekgotla, government announced plans to get more than 200 000 children between the ages of seven and 15 enrolled in school by 2014 by increasing the number of no-fee schools, while widening feeding schemes. There is also a drive to ensure that teachers are in class and teaching for the allocated school time.
In 2009, there were 12 million learners who were taught by 386 587 teachers in 24 693 public schools; 386 098 learners taught by 24 557 teachers in 1 174 private schools; 646 491 learners were enrolled in 13 736 early childhood development programmes; 620 223 children were in Grade 0; and 5,2 million learners were in 14 029 schools where no schools fees were charged.
Formal education in South Africa is categorised according to three levels:
- General Education and Training
- Further Education and Training (FET)
- and Higher Education (HE) structures.
Statutory bodies include the:
Did you know?
Over the last 17 years, government has doubled investment in education. Access to primary and secondary schooling has reached near universal enrolment figures. A total of 98% of children from seven to 15 years are enrolled in schools; 88% are six-year olds, and 70% are children aged four and five in early childhood development centres.
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Basic education
The Department of Basic Education has identified the following targets to be achieved by 2014:
- the number of Grade 12 learners who pass the national examinations and qualify to enter a Bachelor's programme at a university must increase from 105 000 to 175 000
- the number of Grade 12 learners who pass Mathematics and Physical Science must total 225 000 and 165 000 respectively
- the percentage of learners in grades three, six and nine in public schools who obtain the minimum acceptable mark in the national assessments for Language and Mathematics (or Numeracy) must improve from between 27% and 38% to at least 60%.
- all children should have participated in a Grade R programme before entering Grade One and at least 37% of children from birth to five years should have participated in an early childhood development programme. In 2009, more than 785 000 learners had access to a Grade R programme.
Starting from the 2011 academic year, government will introduce free education for the poor at undergraduate level. Students in Further Education and Training colleges who qualify for financial aid will not pay academic fees.
This will assist in increasing access to the colleges for students from poor families as well as help the country to meet its needs for intermediate and technical skills.
The national pass rate for the matric Class of 2010 was 67,8%, representing an impressive increase of 7,2% on the 2009 results (60,6%).
Did you know?
In May 2010, the 1Goal: Education for All Campaign was launched as a 2010 World Cup initiative. Several organisations such as FIFA and famous personalities are part of the campaign.
The 1Goal Campaign is a coalition of 100 organisations from 100 countries established in 2009 to raise awareness about the 72 million children around the world who are said to have no access to quality basic education. The initiative aims to get all children across the world to school by 2015.
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Policy
Schooling is compulsory between the ages of seven and 15. All learners are guaranteed access to quality learning. There are two types of schools: independent (private) and public. At public schools, parents vote on the level of school fees. Poor parents are given exemption or reductions.
Curriculum development
Schooling 2025 is the new action plan by government to improve the education system in schools. It aims to improve all aspects of education such as teacher recruitment, learner enrolment, school funding, mass literacy and numeracy and overall quality of education.
The outcomes-based education system will be revised, improved and renamed Schooling 2025. The Department of Basic Education is finalising a comprehensive
turnaround plan for teaching in schools called Action Plan 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025 [PDF].
The new curriculum gives learners the option of learning in their mother tongues for the first three years of their schooling. English will still be taught, but will not replace the mother tongue or home language in the early grades. Each grade will have its own programme of study. This will ease the workload on teachers and allow learners to focus on specific projects and assessments.
The number of subjects will also be reduced from eight to six for learners in the intermediate phase. This means that for learners in grades four to six, Technology will be combined with Science; Arts and Culture will be combined with Life Orientation; and Economic and Management Sciences will only be taught to learners from Grade Seven.
From 2011, learners' end-of-year results are calculated as follows:
- grades R to three will be based on 100% continuous assessment of work done throughout the year
- grades four to six will be based on 75% continuous assessment and 25% year-end exam results
- grades seven to nine will be based on 40% continuous assessment and 60% year-end exam results
- grades 10 to 12 will be based on 25% continuous assessment and 75% year-end exam results.
Did you know?
The National School Nutrition Programme is one of the most important components of the Government's Programme of Action. It was specifically assigned the responsibility of addressing children's ability to learn by providing them with nutritious meals.
In 2009/10, the programme reached 7 125 273 learners in the 20 345 schools nationally that provided learners with cooked meals five days a week. Some R83 147 million was transferred to provincial departments to procure equipment to extend the programme to quintile two secondary schools by April 2010.
For the 2010/11 financial year, the programme strengthened
monitoring, research, programme advocacy and partnerships to
ensure quality meals.
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Further Education and Training (FET)
Nearly 70% of all South Africans are under the age of 35. Government, through the Department of Higher Education and Training, developed a strategy to increase the ratio of young people that are in education, employment or training by 2014/15. The aim of this strategy is to strengthen the capacity of the education and training system to provide pivotal programmes to a growing number of young post-school learners as well as adults at turning points in their careers.
Pivotal programmes are professional, vocational, technical and academic learning programmes, which meet critical needs for economic growth and social development. These programmes generally combine course work at universities, universities of technology or colleges with structured learning at work – through, among other things, professional placements, work-integrated learning, apprenticeships, learnerships and internships.
The FET sector with its 50 colleges and 263 campuses nationally is the primary site for skills-development training. The FET college system carries about 220 000 students in the public colleges and less than 100 000 in private colleges.
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Higher Education (HE)
The HE budget for 2010/11 was R8,4 billion. Universities received R17,5 billion and R3,8 billion was allocated for FET colleges. In 2010, 98% of the HE budget was allocated for transfer to institutions.
Government aims to increase access to HE to the poor by, among other things, converting loans into bursaries for qualifying final-year students.
The HE landscape consists of the following institutions:
Did you know?
The registration of Early Childhood Development (ECD) sites is the responsibility of the Department of Social Development in terms of the Child Care Act, 1983.
Municipalities/local governments also have constitutional power to provide child-care facilities and grants to associations. These regulations are applicable to both public and independent ECD sites.
In 2009, 2 514 new ECD centres were registered. Of these, 1 385 centres are based in rural areas. This is part of government's plan to expedite rural development.
By March 2010, there were 16 250 registered ECD sites in total.
Some 719 194 children benefited, including 432 727 children who
were subsidised by government.
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Source: Pocket Guide to South Africa 2010/11
Editor: D Burger. Government Communication and Information
System
Last modified: 03 April 2012 15:18:04.
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