Education in South Africa

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South African primary school children

Image:Ian Mackenzie High School Classroom.jpg

South African high school students, 2005.

South Africa has 12 million learners, 366 000 teachers and around 28 000 schools - including 390 special needs schools and 1 000 registered private schools. Of all the schools, 6 000 are High schools (grade 8 to grade 12) and the rest are Primary schools (grade 1 to grade 7).

School life spans 13 years - or grades - although the first year of education, grade 0 or "reception year", and the last three years, grade 10, 11 and grade 12 or "matric" are not compulsory. Many Primary schools offer grade 0, although this pre-school year may also be completed at Nursery school.

Recently, great advances have been made in the introduction of new technology to the formerly disadvantaged schools. Organisations such as Khanya ^[1], (Xhosa for enlightenment) have worked to provide computer access in state schools. Many schools have created ICT(Information and Communications Technology) links with colleges across the world. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (http://www.ssatrust.org.uk) has been very active in supporting mutually beneficial partnerships.

A recent national initiative has been the creation of "FOCUS" schools. These specialise in specific curriculum areas (Business & Commerce, Engineering, Arts & Culture) and are very similar to the UK specialist schools programme.

For university entrance, a matric "endorsement" is required, although some universities do set their own additional academic requirements.

South Africa has a vibrant higher education sector, with more than a million students enrolled in the country’s universities and universities of technology. All the universities are autonomous, reporting to their own councils rather than government.

1 Restructuring
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Restructuring

Template:Life in South Africa The apartheid regime created different universities for different race groups, often in close proximity and offering the same courses, but neglected the development of historically black institutions. In a country with scarce resources, with institutions of uneven capacity, there was an urgent need to cut down on costly duplication and improve quality across the sector.

After several years of investigation and consultation, the government announced plans to radically restructure higher education through mergers and incorporations that was completed by January 2005 and created 22 institutions out of an existing 36 universities and technikons. Out of the 36 institutions 22 were selected for mergers, four for major incorporations (or loss of facilities), one was being dismantled and its multi-sites slotted into other institutions, and there are 10 new university names.

In South Africa, education plays a huge role compared to other countries. The government usually spends 20% of their expenditure on education. Black Africans were perceived to have the role of laborers and servants. During the 1980s the young population was committed to destroying the education system due the apartheid. There were strikes and violence which firmly restricted its ability to function in an orderly manner. Even though the government spends 20% annually on education the apartheid theory still sticks around.

Among the South African population, only 14% of blacks have an education of high school or higher, whereas 40% of Indians and 65% of Whites have an education of high school or higher.

In South Africa, you can find the concept of public and private school which vary according to character, size, quality of education, and financial advantages. With both public and private intuitions, the education in South Africa is very promising. Most of the schools are supported by the state, but private schooling is also widely common. 2.8% of the total school population is private equaling 340,000 students.Today the literacy rate is 86%.^{[citation needed]}