The State of the Nation Address (Sona) for 2023’s education goals require an urgent outside the box approach with clear and public monitoring and evaluation processes. The South African education system is characterised by numerous challenges and inadequacies perpetuating the existing crisis.
Regardless of the huge budget allocated to education, the country’s education system has indeed been found to be the worst of all those of middle-income countries that participate in national educational appraisals.
This is illustrated by South Africa’s Gr. 9 learners ranking 38th in Mathematics out of the 39 countries that participated in research conducted by the International Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievements (IEA).
The findings revealed the following: After four years of education, a total of 82% of South African children struggle to read with comprehension; 25% of matriculants fail their final examination; what is more, 50% of learners drop out of school before completing matric; and alarmingly, less than 5% who commence primary school end up with a tertiary qualification.
Education is a great tool for advancing economic growth, encouraging innovation, reducing poverty and inequality, as well as strengthening society. Access to quality education is therefore important in undoing social and economic inequality.
But addressing the challenges that plague South Africa’s education system has proved to be a huge and complex undertaking.
Traditional solutions have proven to be ineffective and throwing money at the problem does not yield lasting change.
In the light of this challenge, there has been greater acknowledgment that government alone cannot shoulder the problems encountered in education.
Business, as a socio-economic partner, must help lead the movement.
After all, business is the lifeblood of any economy and relies on a well-educated workforce to drive economic growth.
The principals of schools, in turn, are vital in terms of ensuring that schools are truly environments of quality teaching and learning that nurture and equip the future workforce.
We need the urgent implementation of a thinking outside the box, solution-driven approach to the wicked education crisis or risk our learners being left behind on the global stage.
Whether or not you were sold on Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa’s articulation of his vision for the country, and believe that this Sona marks a departure from years of empty rhetoric, one thought prevails: Turning the tide on a failing education system will require the input of all in South Africa.
Instead of the government throwing subsidies to Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, we need an innovative multi-disciplinary approach involving the private-public sector in education.
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Dorcas Dube–Londt
is of Citizen Leader Lab.
