Almost a quarter of all South Africans older than 25 had not attended school by the time of the 1996 census, according to a report released on Monday.
Thirty-one percent of black women and 26% of black men had no formal schooling, says the Statistics SA report, entitled ”Education in South Africa — Selected Findings from Census ’96”.
A quarter of all women fell in this category, compared to a fifth of all men.
”The 1996 population census confirmed that income tends to increase with education,” the report says.
”However, at each level of education, a higher percentage of employed women than employed men had an income of R500 or less per month.”
Among employed people with no formal schooling, 60% of coloured and 53% of black South Africans earned R500 or less per month.
In October 1996, 11% of the 8,1-million children aged 7 to 15 years were not attending school. Of those between 16 and 25 years, six percent had no formal schooling and 13% had not completed primary schooling. Only three percent had achieved a qualification higher than matric.
”In every age group, girls and women who had given birth were less likely to be studying than those who had not given birth.”
Among all girls aged 12 to 15, two percent had given birth.
”Of this group, 56% were still studying, and 44% were not studying in 1996. Among the group who had not given birth, as many as 95% were still studying,” the report says. – Sapa