Here are the challenges this year’s Grade 1s will face over the next 12 years

As a million grade ones start their educational journey on Wednesday, experts say they will face several major challenges over the next 12 years.

According to the Department of Basic Education, 1.2 million pupils started Grade 1 in 2012.

Twelve years later only 882 336 wrote the NSC exam last year, with 615 429 pupils passing.

According to a Stats SA report in 2020, factors contributing to this are family support or a lack of interest in school.

“Reasons given for dropping out of school differ by gender, especially for females who have to stop attending school due to family commitment (13.4%), while close to 5% of males stopped attending because they had no interest in education.”

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Better retention of school pupils

Education expert Mary Metcalf told The Citizen by the time this year’s Grade 1s matriculate in 2037, she hopes retention will have improved. She also said the current education system needs to shift its focus.

“The evidence of international and South African benchmarking studies show that learner performance in primary school is a cause for concern and this creates inefficiencies in the system.”

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Major challenges

Speaking to The Citizen, Professor Kobus Maree at the University of Pretoria said one of the concerns is resources in the department.

“I would say infrastructure and also resources [are the major concerns]. As I’ve said so many times, the rural areas lack the basic things, and they don’t even have a place to study.

“The shortage [of teachers] is very sad and I really think we should make a plan there,” the professor said.

He said financial constraints and mental health support within the education system are also challenges.

5th Industrial Revolution

In addition, education expert Hendrick Makaneta said that by the time this year’s Grade 1 pupils reach matric, there will be huge changes to the 5th industrial revolution.

He said that the Department of Basic Education should have introduced subjects that align with the demands of this.

“We hope that by then, the government would have been able to revise the curriculum to ensure that learners produce skills that are required by the mainstream economy,” Makaneta added.

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