SA: Replication of apartheid in schools

Leanne Jansen Correspondent
The differences in the matric results of white and black children reveal just how grim is the pall that apartheid continues to cast over the life chances of South Africa’s pupils.

Data from the Basic Education Department shows that the proportion of black 22- to 25-year-olds who by last year had a matric certificate to their name (48.4 percent), was far lower than the proportion of white youths (87.9 percent).

This was despite the 12.3 percent increase, since 2002, in the proportion of black African 22- to 25-year-olds who had passed matric. The proportion of coloured 22- to 25-year-olds who by last year had a matric certificate to their name was lowest of all, at 47.6 percent.

Of all the white pupils who wrote matric last year, 98.3 percent passed. But of all the black African pupils who wrote matric last year, 72,7 percent passed, according to research by Ntsizwa Vilakazi, a researcher with the department.

Matric certificate Of all the white pupils who wrote matric last year, 98,3 percent passed. But of all the black African pupils who wrote matric last year, 72,7 percent passed, according to research.

Looking at figures on the number of children attaining matric exemption last year, 66.7 percent of white matrics passed well enough to study towards a degree at university, and another 29.2 percent qualified to study towards a diploma. But just 23.8 percent of black matrics qualified to study towards a degree at university.

Vilakazi’s research was released earlier this year, at a conference hosted by the Research on Socio-Economic Policy unit of Stellenbosch University, and funded by the Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Development — a partnership between the South African Presidency and the EU.

His data shows that the number of black children making it from Grade 10, and passing matric, is far lower than for white children. Dividing the number of Grade 12 passes by the Grade 10 enrolment two years earlier equals the throughput rate.

The throughput rate of black African pupils has steadily climbed from 28.4 percent in 2008, to 37,1 percent in 2013.

But back in 2008 the throughput rate for white pupils was already more than double that for black pupils, at 73,4 percent. Turning to how pupils of different races perform in specific subjects, the department figures show that 83 percent of white matrics scored above 40 percent for maths, and 76 percent of white matrics scored above 40 percent for physical science.

A much smaller number of black matrics (28.5 percent) scored above 40 percent for maths, and just 31.7 percent scored above 40 percent for physical science.

A whopping 98.7 percent of white matrics scored above 40 percent for maths literacy, compared with 54 percent of black matrics.

Root of problem

Nic Spaull, an education researcher with Stellenbosch University, explains that the strong legacy of apartheid, and the correlation between education and wealth, has meant that, generally speaking, poorer pupils fare worse at school.

The vast majority of schools which served black pupils have remained dysfunctional and unable to teach pupils to properly read, write and calculate. In the new South African Child Gauge report, Spaull explains that by Grade 3, children in the poorest 60 percent of schools are already three years worth of learning behind their wealthier peers.

This gap grows, and by the time children are in Grade 9, they are five years worth of learning behind their wealthier peers. Research has consistently shown that most South African pupils acquire learning deficits in the early grades, and that those backlogs are the root cause of under-performance in later years.

Poor quality education helps drive an intergenerational cycle of poverty. Children inherit the social standing of their parents — no matter their own abilities or effort, argues Spaull.

“The latest available Sacmeq data of 2007 highlighted huge geographic inequalities in the country: 41 percent of rural Grade 6 learners were functionally illiterate, compared with only 13 percent of urban learners in the same grade,” Spaull says. “Learners who cannot read fluently by the end of Grade 4 cannot engage with the rest of the curriculum in meaningful ways. This is primarily because in Grades 1 to 3 the curriculum focuses on ‘learning to read’, whereas from Grade 4 onwards it focuses on ‘reading to learn’.” — iol.co.za