By Tswelopele Makoe
ILLITERACY has been pervading the nation, particularly among young children. The most recent assessment by the Progress in International Reading Study unveiled an 81% illiteracy rate among grade four learners in South Africa.
These startling findings truly prove that the rate of education has taken a staggering nosedive. It reveals to us that the future generation is in a critical situation. About a third of the young children entering grade two do not know the alphabet. Over three-quarters of the nation’s grade four children are unable to write sufficiently, read comprehensively, or in any language whatsoever.
This is compounded by the disappearance of over 100 000 learners from the Department of Basic Education systems as of the end of April.
Considering the tumultuous educational history of South Africa, it is particularly devastating to see such staggering literacy figures among children. Not only is this an unnerving realisation of the poor state of our nation, but more so, its educational systems.
The most recent findings by the Progress in Literacy study, last taken in 2021, ranked SA last among 57 participant nations and 400 000 students. This simply means that children are not learning.
Additionally, South Africa had the largest gender-gap of all of the participant nations, with girls drastically outperforming boys in the same age group and being placed 1.5 years of learning ahead of their male counterparts. Despite these petrifying findings, the government has no strategy or budget to remediate these learning losses.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) Minister Angie Motshekga attests to the contemptible rates of illiteracy to the school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic. The DBE has insisted that the drop in over 100 000 students from the schooling system was simply due to factors such as migration and population movement.
Nonetheless, the sector of education is in dire distress, and this matter cannot be downplayed anymore. In the past decade, the improvement of literacy among children has been stagnant and likely amplified by our multitudinous societal challenges.
From infrastructural challenges to job insecurity, to exasperating power outages, the standard of living has truly gotten critical.
In our new SA, inequities are deep, and quality education is largely inaccessible. According to the Borgen Project, the immense racial disparities in our educational system directly correlate to the racial disparities in poverty. The poverty rate among black people is 38 times higher than that of their white counterparts.
The cost of living has stratified, and the national climate is deeply pessimistic, with citizens increasingly vulnerable to economic hardships. As of 2022, 18.2 million people were living in poverty in SA. These figures will only magnify as more households struggle to access healthcare, shelter, clean water and food, and many other basic needs. Considering the myriad of socio-economic challenges in our society, it is no wonder that education has been pushed to the side-lines.
In recent years, women have been making strides in their pursuit of education and equity in the workplace. However, over half of all adult women in the country remain uneducated. Additionally, the Human Science Research Council found that although girls and boys learn consistent knowledge in schools, equality requires the consideration of gender in schooling institutions.
For example, facilities that address sexual and reproductive health concerns, sanitation facilities for menstruation, and safe, clean infrastructure. Young girls’ quality of education is directly linked to the institutional structures that address their needs and protect their right to dignity and access to education.
It is pertinent that the nation itself does not undermine the value of basic education. Educational opportunities are the actualisation of a better future. This is the pillar on which a society is built. Without education, the challenges that we face as a nation are much more likely to sky-rocket. There are plenty of barriers to gainful employment, and lacking a basic education will only result in disempowerment amid our increasingly global-technological national order.
During our history of apartheid, the unequal distribution of resources and violently systematic racial subjugation of black people meant that educational opportunities were inconceivable for people of colour. Today, our country is hailed for having the most internationally acclaimed Constitution, noted for being the most progressive in the world.
It is, therefore, heart-wrenching to see our society sinking, to see children of all ages contend with institutional and economic challenges so insufferably, and to see the citizens that fought for a fair and equitable society, painstakingly fight for their survivability.
The right to basic education is a human right, enshrined in the Constitution and emphasised globally. Equality, dignity, economic and social wellbeing are at the forefront of our nation’s constitutional principles.
Professor Chürr at the Unisa’s law department is the author of an article that questions whether “the current South African school system sufficiently realises the constitutional rights of learners”. Considering the myriad of challenges and circumstances that are grappled with within the national educational system, societal challenges that affect the working class and the parents of young children directly impact their basic education trajectory.
Children from impoverished communities are disproportionately affected by societal challenges, particularly those pertaining to health care. Lack of water, food, overcrowding, a lack of access to sanitary pads and the lack of access to educational resources such as books and pens all affect young students learning and retaining knowledge.
These challenges not only deter young people from school but, often times, affect their households intricately and especially, affect the guardians that act as the support structure for young schoolchildren. Children of all ages go to school to gain knowledge. However, their homes are where this knowledge is practised and enhanced.
Societal challenges often times permeate the home first. Rates of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, sexual exploitation, debilitating mental health, basic healthcare, and chronic diseases are among many challenges that are faced within the context of households. Young school-going children are more vulnerable to crime, sexual assault, and human trafficking, most especially when they undergo long walks to school daily.
What is clear is that our multitudinous societal challenges are strongly impacting the fulfilment and realisation of children's constitutional rights. The right to a just and fair society, an equitable society that protects the human dignity and freedoms of its citizens, is in fact, not yet actualised.
It is almost 30 years after the first democratic election, but the democratic freedoms of the nation continue to be stifled. This is largely attested to a lack of political engagement, ineffectiveness, and institutional corruption, among others.
Scores of citizens continue to live in impoverishment, with very few educational and economic opportunities accessible to them. The rate of unemployment, as of 2023, is among the highest in the world, at 32.9%. The cost of living is soaring, and the conditions of liveability are increasingly burdensome.
Education is key to overcoming these challenges. Educated citizens result in the betterment of the citizenry and a crucial development of our society.
Educated people are particularly armed with the knowledge to overcome many of these socio-economic and institutional challenges and are armed with the knowledge of their rights in society, which is pertinent to this plight. Education is vital to the self-development of citizens, and crucial to the development of our nation.
Practical life skills, critical thinking, mental agility, character building, ethical and moral principles, self-care practices, and creative problem-solving skills are largely attained in educational contexts. This means that these students, skilled with comprehensive and vital knowledge of nation-building, can meaningfully contribute to the prosperity and progression of our society.
This means that they will be creative and systematic in addressing societal issues. They will choose sustainable and equitable structures and institutions that will proliferate the nation into new heights. We need to protect the educational prospects of young children and vigorously interrogate the educational institutions that shape their knowledge and future.
In my view, the government and national leadership has not been rigorous enough in their commitment to overcoming the socio-economic challenges that are disintegrating our society. Citizens should also not underestimate their power to enact meaningful change in society. Our people should actively drive the vision of a society that is outlined in our Constitution. They must actively and collaboratively participate in the actualisation of the society they want to see.
It is our autonomous responsibility to ensure the progression of our own society, to safeguard the institutions that are key to our knowledge-building, and to interrogate the institutionally repressive structures that continue to ostracise citizens on the basis of their economic power. As Nelson Mandela once noted, “The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow”, and thus, “education is a very important weapon to prepare children for their future roles as leaders of the community”.