Lack of transparency shows government ‘has no plan’ to address school dropout rates

The lack of transparency and understanding of factors which drive dropout rates in South Africa shows how government still has no plan to address this problem, say experts.

President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday gave a recovery plan for the basic education sector, as the lekgotla kicked off under the theme “equipping pupils with knowledge and skills for a changing world in the context of Covid”.

School dropout rates

Ramaphosa said every year, thousands of high school pupils “leave before sitting their matric exams”, however, the truth is at least 40% of pupils who start school in Grade 1 never finish, according to the Zero Dropout Campaign.

The president said the theme raised the important issue of whether all pupils who enter the basic education system were able to follow the educational paths which best suit them and their aspirations.

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“If we can provide pupils with more choices and better guidance, we should be able to reduce the dropout rates,” he added.

“The three-stream model is critical if we are to adapt and thrive in the new world of work.”

Dropout crisis started before Covid

However, Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane said Ramaphosa’s “promises were just that, promises”, and noted the dropout crisis started even before the onset of the pandemic.

“SA was already facing a dropout, with at least four out of 10 pupils who started school in Grade 1 dropping out before reaching matric,” said Maimane.

“Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga is in denial about it and the education department director-general Mathanzima Mweli said it was between 10% to 15%.”

“Neither the president, nor the department realises that the pass rate is low. You cannot congratulate yourself on a more than 80% pass rate when, in fact, dropouts are high and kids are passing at a low level. They are setting pupils in public schools up for failure.”

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During his technical briefing on 19 January, Mweli said SA’s problem was not so much the dropout rates but high failure and high repetition rates.

However, Maimane questioned why the president would hold a lekgotla to address what he described as an “extremely serious problem of pupil dropout”.

Matric statistics ‘misleading’

The Zero Dropout Campaign noted the matric pass rate only revealed the percentage of pupils in Grade 12 who wrote and passed their exams, but it says nothing about how many pupils dropped out along the way.

“If one were to consider the matric pass rate in isolation, you would see an improvement over time starting with 58% in 1994, 76.2% in 2020, and 76.4% in 2021,” the campaign’s programme director, Merle Mansfield, said.

“To the lay person, this appears to be an improvement in educational outcomes. However, this is not necessarily the case, and viewed in isolation, these statistics are misleading.

“So, it becomes essential to consider the matric pass rate alongside other indicators, such as the dropout rate.”

Mansfield said understanding the contextual factors that drive disengagement and dropout “will allow us to design dropout prevention and support programmes that respond to the real needs and experiences of pupils”.

The president said the three-stream model, which focused on increasing pupils’ access to technical, vocational and skills subjects and schools, was critical for the country to thrive in the new world of work.

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Speaking to The Citizen, Unisa’s Professor Khehla Ndlovu said the SA education system needed a reform, which focused more on the interests of pupils, rather than taking a blanket approach on learning.

He said the country’s high dropout rate could not be ignored and that implementation was a better solution.

“We should be taking a page out of China’s education system. Have it curated for our kids, but at the same time make it so they don’t have to be desperate for jobs,” he added.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za