South Africa’s education system is in trouble. Nearly 14 years after apartheid ended, the country’s learners have some of the worst scores in the world when it comes to reading, as well as maths and science literacy.
In a maths and science study, grade eights came bottom out of 50 countries. South Africa’s school system suffers from poorly trained and uncommitted teachers, unsafe buildings, struggles with transport and sexual harassment of learners.
Last year, the national pass rate for matrics dropped again, setting off alarm bells about South Africa’s school system. The pass rate has declined each year since 2004 — in 2007 the pass rate was 65,2%, compared with the 2006 pass rate of 66,5%.
The challenges in the education sector are widespread. There is a shortage of qualified science and maths teachers, especially in rural areas. The supply of teachers is not keeping pace with demand, with teacher losses far outstripping entries into the profession, according to research company Trialogue’s CSI Handbook.
Thus there is huge scope for companies and organisations to get involved in improving South Africa’s education system. Education also draws the most corporate social investment (CSI) from South African companies. About 91% of CSI programmes invest in education, with the overall CSI spend in 2006 amounting to R893-million, according to Trialogue’s figures.
The R893-million invested in education, however, accounted for just less than a third of the total CSI spend in 2006. Some of the largest contributors to education include Anglo American, AngloÂGold and BHP Billiton.
About 70% of programmes focused on schools and improving the environment for learners, and here maths and science programmes were top, followed by life skills education and then information technology.
“The reason is intuitively clear: many companies are reliant on technical skills, and it therefore makes sense for them to use their CSI programmes to boost maths and science performance to build foundations for a bigger pool of technical expertise in the country,” says Trialogue.
The shortage of maths and science teachers is a huge obstacle.
The government is aware that maths and science are key to South Africans’ future and have tried several interventions to improve the output. But the Centre for Development and Enterprise’s (CDE) research shows that little gain is being made. The organisation said in a paper on the matter that the maths and science education system is still failing to deliver sufficient numbers of school leavers equipped with maths and science skills to meet the country’s needs.
“Government policy reforms over the past 10 years have not increased the supply of black maths and science graduates,” said the CDE’s Ann Bernstein.
Bernstein said as a first step to improving the situation is for the private sector to review the support it has given to maths and science education with a view to aligning with the proposed national thrust and the CDE’s recommendations for effective intervention.
“A determined partnership between public- and private-sector leadership must come together if we are to succeed,” she said. “If this happens, a dramatic increase in performance is achievable within five years.”
An attempt to fix the problems with maths and science is the Dinaledi school project, which aims to increase access to maths and science at higher-grade level in underprivileged schools.
The schools were formed in 2001 to improve participation and performance in maths and science, particularly among previously disadvantaged learners, and many private companies are involved in the programme.
Khosi Xulu, of Black Science, Technology and Engineering Professionals, said the initiative needed support if South Africa is to acquire the scarce skills it needs for faster economic growth. “It is a brilliant idea, and really promises to produce a pool of black science professionals.”
The government has great hopes for the Dinaledi schools and is constantly calling for more businesses to get involved in the project.
“We hope to see 50 000 mathematics passes on higher grade by 2009,” said Education Director General Duncan Hindle last year. “We are confident that this momentum would build over time.”
Yet the department has a mountain to climb to get even near this estimate. Higher-grade maths pass rates increased from 25 217 in 2006 to 25 415 in 2007 and standard grade from 110 452 in 2006 to 123 813 in 2007.
Higher-grade science pass numbers in 2007 (28 122) were down on 2006 (29 781), but there was a significant increase from 81 151 in 2006 to 87 485 in 2007 in the number of standard-grade passes.
“Although there had been a dip in 2006, there has been an enormous growth in the number of passes on standard grade,” said Hindle. He was encouraged that more learners were passing on standard grade.
He said the numbers suggested that more students could have passed on higher grade if they had been given the necessary support.