Judging by the numerous media articles and public debates about the state of education in the majority of black South African schools i.e. public schools that are not former Model C (former “white”) schools, one would have to be forgiven in concluding that there is a real educational crisis of national proportions at the moment.

The public and media attention that has been generated has certainly not been of the positive type; and all independent analyses seem to point in the same direction.

It has not helped that following the dismal Matric results of the last few years, education authorities have publicly acknowledged that the 2010 Matric examination results were “adjusted” in order to sanitise them.

Many observers described that which occurred as an attempt at placing a plaster on an already festering sore, resulting in an artificial improvement in the pass rate. A cause for concern!

Very low university enrolment by black students from public schools in subjects such as engineering, mathematics and science has not helped either. Of those learners who do eventually enroll in these critical subjects at tertiary level, very few stay the course and come out with very good results at the end of a three- or four-year university cycle.

The dropout rates have been worrisome for education authorities, parents, civil society groups and other observers and interested parties.

The tendency by many black pupils to opt for the easier mathematics literacy – reportedly at the encouragement of some school authorities – instead of the more complex version of the subject, has not helped increase the number of successful new university enrollments in the critical courses that our emerging economy demands.

Finding solutions

Richard Masemola, a former teacher now executive director of Teach South Africa (www.teachsouthafrica.org) – together with two friends, Futhi Mthoba and Dr Mothomang Diago – decided to do something about it. In 2005, they established this organisation aimed at helping drive pupils toward taking up mathematics and science, in order to increase their chances of being accepted for courses such as Engineering at tertiary level.

This followed the 2005 National Skills Audit and the call by the government for society to help deal with the disastrous legacy of apartheid Bantu education.

In partnership with the government, Teach South Africa attracts young and dynamic honours and masters graduates to teach at selected South African public schools. The government pays them entry-level teacher salaries to stay on the programme for an average of two years, during which they are enrolled for a postgraduate certificate in Education, Training and Development.

“The problems in black South African schools”, explains Masemola, “come from many sources. The culture of learning has deteriorated in many of these schools; and in some cases, teacher attitudes do not help.

“School and class absenteeism is both a learner and teacher problem, with neither side well positioned to claim the moral high ground on this matter.

“To make things worse, black learners are often the only victims whenever teachers decide to use them as cannon fodder, when they embark on industrial action for salary increases. Many of these teachers do not even send their own children to township schools – so, clearly, the fate of learners who go to such schools is not of any concern to them,” he adds.

Teach South Africa encourages interschool teacher exchanges between urban and peri-urban schools in order to increase possibilities of positive exposure and benchmarking, but even this is not happening to the extent where it made sufficient impact.

Research has shown that an average of between 40% and 50% Matric pass rate in South Africa is below the continental average, despite the fact that South African pupils benefit, comparatively speaking, from better resources, more qualified teachers and lower pupil-to-teacher ratios.

In a recent study, Stellenbosch University Research Group member Stephen Taylor raised the issue of school management in demonstrating the effect of management on educational outcomes. Using the National Schools Effectiveness test, he demonstrated that “schools were found to perform badly in tests where there were no timetables or assessment records, where principals and teachers were absent and where teachers did not plan a full-year learning programme.”

Former Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel must have been oblivious to the fact that part of what he said during his 2008 Steve Biko Memorial Lecture would be taken as a serious call to action and provide a raison d’être for a group of youth, parents, teachers and community members who went out to form a movement called Equal Education (www.equaleducation.org.za), working for quality and equal education through analysis
and activism.

This is what Manuel said at the time: “With the best will in the world, national government… is unable to monitor teacher attendance, whether teaching is actually taking place or whether students are in class learning.

“Without the integral involvement of communities, we don’t stand a chance of improving the quality of schooling, especially in poor communities.

“When we reminisce about the 1970s and the 1980s, we often remember the mass protests, the community mobilisation, and the active involvement of communities in solving their own problems. Communities did not suddenly wake up and start protesting. No, they were organised by groups of young activists, mostly students. Where have all the activists gone?

“What do the young people who are politically astute and socially aware do these days? Who are the catalysts for social transformation?” he put forward.

Now three years in existence, Equal Education has produced statistics that show the sources of the problems begin early in the schooling cycle. From the allocation of poorly educated or trained teachers, to failure to make principals accountable for the results produced by the schools they head, there are also issues such as poorly equipped libraries and science laboratories – where these exist – in black schools, as well as generally poor attitudes toward the importance of education.

Equal Education justifies its mission from its stated premise that “presently in South Africa, about 2.4 million young people, aged 18 to 25, are unemployed (and that) the primary barrier is poor quality education received by the majority of young people”.

By taking today’s schools and breaking them down into their former apartheid classifications, the organisation was able to demonstrate through the table (above) that unequal education still determines life chances.

From its first campaign in 2008, to get the government to fix 500 broken windows in one Khayelitsha school, Equal Education has run other campaigns on school attendance and late coming, school libraries, basic infrastructure, the availability of science teachers and, more recently, a campaign for school infrastructure standards. All its work is based on original research, policy analysis and weekly youth leadership development meetings.

Other commentators

For his part, Dr Wilmot James (Democratic Alliance’s shadow minister of Basic Education) states that as long as “we allow (organisations such as) South African Democratic Teachers’ Union to dictate and be the source of turbulence, instead of simply providing teachers with services, we will continue having problems in our education system.

“Also, when we set the bar at 40% for mathematics and science, we end up with the dismal 28% pass in mathematics, 38% pass in life sciences and 19% pass in physical sciences, which we achieved in last year’s results.

“Because of the obsession with percentages, schools even encourage learners who are mathematically capable to take the easier mathematics literacy. The (school’s) numbers look a lot better after that, but leads to a generation of mediocre learners,” he adds.

“The remedy is more better trained teachers who are part of a new cadre, which is introducing performance-related pay and better conditions of service for those with the best interests of the nation’s education at heart, going into the future.”

Writing in the Sunday Times a few months ago (20 February 2011), the paper’s New York correspondent Lihle Z. Mtshali urged South Africa’s Department of Basic Education to stop basing its mandate on its apparent literal interpretation of its name – the provision of basic education – and to start ensuring pupils leave school with more than merely basic knowledge of the content of their curriculum.

She supported calls by Free State University rector and vice chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen, for South Africa to raise its Matric pass mark up to 70% from its current dismal 40%.

At its current level, Mtshali argued, the required Matric pass mark puts South African school-leavers way below African peers, let alone those in the United States (where the pass mark is 70%). At these low levels of expectation, it should surprise no one when South Africans hoping to make it into foreign institutions of higher learning, struggle to satisfy the most basic entry requirements.

“The average high-school graduation rate across the US stands at 69.2%, on the surface just a little higher than South Africa’s 67% – but American pupils are required to know almost 30% more work,” she wrote.

In a follow-up article on 27 February 2011, independent public relations strategist Tebogo Ditshego argued against South Africa’s flirtation with outcomes-based education (OBE) – a system that had been tried by both Australia and the US, and eventually dropped in 1982.

He called for return to basics; recommending more investment in developing infrastructure in disadvantaged schools and training of more teachers, particularly those majoring in mathematics and science, in order to meet demands of the country’s economy. “With vague outcomes concentrating on the attitudes, behaviour and values of pupils, instead of academic content, OBE does not reflect the realities of society, which means that pupils cannot be adequately prepared for the real world,” he argued.

From the first post-apartheid Education minister, the late Professor Sibusiso Bhengu, through to his successor Professor Kader Asmal, then Naledi Pandor and the current Angie Motshega, South Africa’s basic education system has seen a myriad of modifications, none of which has, to date, received plaudits from any quarter.

Reports that a recently developed “Curriculum Document” pushes for the removal of home language grammar from the classrooms starting from Grade 10 upward, have added to the confusion. Defending the document, Granville Whittle, the department’s spokesperson, said the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement for Further Education and Training language teaching was still being edited before release for public comment and discussion.

But, clearly, these endless changes within a short period of time do not seem to be achieving intended objectives in providing much-needed stability and assurance that things are headed in the right direction.

Whittle’s attempts at allaying concerns do not seem to have succeeded in reassuring English teachers and the South African Council for English Education that all will be fine.

Adding to current debates and, arguably, also related to the ability of South African black students to master English instruction subjects such as mathematics and science – as opposed to mastering them in their mother tongue – is a recurring debate about the need to include proficiency in at least one African language as a requirement for a Matric pass.

Recent pronouncements by Dr Blade Nzimande, the minister of Higher Education and Training, to introduce mastery of an African language as a precondition for acquiring a university degree, have expectedly been welcomed by some people and have upset others.

All interested parties seem to agree on:

• Better teacher training and working conditions;
• Improved learning environments as well as infrastructure (this includes better equipped libraries and science laboratories);
• Principal and teacher accountability and performance-related salaries;
• Learner-centred or learner-conscious teacher union activity; and
• Higher Matric pass mark and practical curriculum.

Solly Moeng