HALF of the children in poverty-stricken areas drop out of school before reaching matric.
A new report released by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) reveal grim statistics, emphasizing that the youth continues to be let down by poor quality of public schools.
The IRR said education trends indicate that poverty remains a determinant of the quality of education a child will receive at school.
White children are three times as likely as black children to pass matric maths with 40%, and there is a rapid growth in the private schooling sector as parents look for options outside State-sponsored education.
The number of children excelling in maths in matric has also fallen sharply since 2008.
‘The poor quality of most public schools is the single biggest obstacle to creating a more prosperous and equal society,’ said IRR education analyst Thuthukani Ndebele.
‘Many of the metrics we use to determine our progress as a country, such as economic growth and racial transformation, are in fact determined for us by the school system.
‘Without significant education policy reform – including education vouchers – it is unlikely that we will see improvement in these metrics.’
Positive trends
‘Somewhat counter-intuitively, there are a number of positive trends in higher education,’ said Ndebele.
‘For example, in degree areas such as engineering and business studies, there have been significant successes in increasing the number of black graduates.
‘This apparent contradiction is explained by the small proportion of children who make it to university where a small black elite, often educated at the handful of better schools, have now joined the historically white elite.’
On university education, the report found significant increases in enrollment over the past 20 years, the higher education participation rate has improved rapidly and there has been a sharp increase in the number of degrees awarded to black people.
Like schools, universities do experience significant dropout rates.
