In a recent report titled ‘General Household Survey 2022: Focus on Schooling‘ released by the Department of Basic Education, it was revealed that 1.4% or 147 807 pupils from the compulsory school age group of 7 to 15 years, were not in school in 2022, causing concern for education experts.
This is in contrast with 1.2% or 104 000 pupils from this age group, that were not attending lessons in 2011, while the number of out-of-school children was 251 869 in 2020 and 165 561 in 2021, as reported by News24.
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For the 2022 survey, the sample size consisted of about 20 000 households.
The Western Cape and Northern Cape had the highest percentage of 7- to 15-year-olds who were not attending school, while Limpopo ‘recorded the lowest percentage’, according to the report.
‘African learners were least likely to be out-of-school in this age group, with coloured learners being the most likely to have been out-of-school,’ the report stated.
The number of 7- to 15-year-olds not attending school increased by almost 44 000 between 2011 and 2022.
There was a ‘steady decline’ in the number of 16- to 18-year-olds who were out of school, which was 366 000 learners in 2011 and 260 024 in 2022.
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The major challenge in education that the report highlighted was understood to be ‘the quality of learning, in particular the quality of foundational learning in areas such as reading and mathematics in the early grades’.
Dr Henry Nichols, head of the education department at the University of the Free State (UFS), said that the increase in the number of children, aged 7 to 15, who were not in school underlined ‘the need for interventions to get pupils back in school’.
‘This is most especially the case in areas and among groups with the highest probability of not attending school at all. It is evident there is improvement, but more substantive efforts must be made so that every child can attend school,’ said Nichols.
He added that factors such as the lack of transport, long distances to schools, and cultural practices that ‘force children to engage in income-generating activities’ are factors for students dropping out of school.
Bronagh Hammond, Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) spokesperson, said that they could not speak to the sample size collected for the report but rather to the ‘verified stats contained in their annual report’.
‘It is a policy priority of ours to improve the retention rate of learners. The no-fee schools and fee-exemption support assistance that is provided by the department, as well as other interventions provided for learners across programmes, are intended to improve learner retention across the system,’ said Hammond.
Hammond also said that the WCED has been ‘continuously stressing’ the need for learners to attend school, as well as the constitutional obligations of the parents to ensure that their child attends school.
‘Unfortunately, in some communities plagued by substance abuse, be it drugs or alcohol, we have seen a lack of concern by some parents to enforce this at home. In some cases, young children are having to take care of younger siblings, join gangs, or drop out to find alternative sources of income to support the family,’ said Hammond.
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