”Massive” educational deprivation continues to plague sub-Saharan Africa, South African Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said on Monday.
”Despite country reports of progress, it is clear that an extraordinary effort will be required to ensure that all countries are directly assisted to succeed,” she told the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Edinburgh, Scotland.
In South Africa, as in most of Africa, boys are pressured into dropping out of school to earn money for their families, while pregnancy is the main reason girls leave school.
She said South Africa has reached universal primary-school enrolment and has enrolment rates of 90% in secondary schools, and that girls are now in the majority at this level.
While it initially appeared that there were more girls in South Africa’s school system, studies showed that this was not because boys were dropping out more easily.
”Instead, boys are flowing through the system more slowly than girls. Boys are repeating grades more frequently … are dropping out of school and then coming back,” Pandor said.
She said NGOs can help countries that still have to provide good basic education for all children.
”We believe that the Commonwealth, working with NGOs, could play a supportive role … in countries that still have to achieve the education-for-all [EFA] goals.”
She said NGOs that focus on research are assisting the government in exploring why boys and girls drop out of schools and finding solutions to the problem.
Referring to South Africa, Pandor said NGOs draw attention to areas the government is neglecting and increase access to social and economic services and education.
”NGOs have been contracted by the state to assist in policy development, implementation and the delivery of services and education.”
An example of this cooperation is South Africa’s Joint Education Trust.
Established in 1992, it consists of a consortium of 20 companies supporting 400 NGOs involved in early-childhood development and teacher training.
In 2000, it was revived with R650-million in funding from local and foreign donors.
The project, funded in part by the British government, provides support for 523 primary schools in the Eastern Cape.
”The contribution of NGOs in education is welcome and focused,” Pandor said.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) EFA initiative commits governments to achieving quality basic education for all by 2015 or earlier, with particular emphasis on girls’ education.
According to a statement on Unesco’s website, it includes a pledge from donor countries and institutions that no country seriously committed to basic education will be thwarted in the achievement of this goal by a lack of resources. — Sapa