Educational Reforms in South Africa
Introduction
Origin of educational reforms in South Africa
Reforms
Conclusion
Introduction
Educational reforms in South
Africa were occasioned by the transition of South
Africa, from apartheid to democracy. The
transitional process culminated in the adoption
of an interim constitution in 1993 which effectively dismantled apartheid and introduced
multiracial democracy. This led to the first multiracial elections in South Africa in 1994. These elections were won by the African National
Congress, ANC. Apartheid, having been practiced for more than four decades,
resulted in large disparities
between the various racial groups. Some of the inequalities in education were brought
about by different teacher qualification requirements, salaries, working conditions
and even different syllabi for the various groups living in South
Africa at the time. The policies of
apartheid still shape the South African society. Effectively, educational reforms
began with the formation of the first multiracial government in South
Africa in 1994 (Jansen, 2002).
Origin
of educational reforms in South Africa
Since the general elections of 1948 in South Africa, the educational segregation
propagated by the apartheid regime, throughout to the year 1994, the system
created imbalances that affected the society, educationally.
With the recognition, by the
apartheid regime, of the significance of education, many pieces of legislation were
introduced to segregate, at an educational level, the majority Black community. These laws ensured that the Whites prospered because of the unfair policies (of apartheid)
at the expense of the Blacks. The multiracial embrace of democracy promoted a
paradigm shift from segregation to integration of those living in South
Africa. Education was viewed as a means of
integration. A lot of expectation was placed on this process-dismantling of
apartheid. All these transpired when, and just before, the multiracial
democratic elections were held on 27th of April, 1994. This change
of attitude, a new sense of hope, socially, inspired educational reforms in the
rainbow Republic
of South Africa
(Crouch, 2004).
The most ambitious educational
reforms were introduced in South Africa
after the fall of apartheid when it was realized that education played a huge
role in bridging the gap created by apartheid. The ANC, with its moderate
policies, sought to equitably avail educational opportunities to every person
in South Africa.
This was one of the pledges the ANC promised to implement; it was the intention
of the government. Obstacles created by the apartheid system had to be
eliminated urgently. The curriculum needed to be harmonized as the apartheid
system did not offer mathematics and sciences to the
Black majority as the regime did
not think it was not necessary to provide such skills for people who could only
do manual jobs.
During apartheid, inhabitants were
classified into racial groups. The apartheid government even segregated
education. Education was segregated by means of the 1953 Bantu Education Act, which crafted a
separate system of education for African students and was designed to prepare
black people for lives as a labouring class. Teachers who taught in the
White minority schools were required to have trained in
universities and colleges whereas those who taught in the Black majority
schools were sometimes not even required to have trained at all. Working
conditions for the teachers of the White learners were also better. The teacher
student ratio was one to eighteen with that of the Black community being at one
to thirty-nine. This ensured that the White minority performed better and were
better qualified for challenges facing the new South
Africa compared to the Blacks who had
limited skills. After the formation of the new government, teacher training had
to be improved with emphasis on better training.
Another challenge facing the newly
elected government was how to tackle education in history as a subject. With
the abolition of apartheid, the education system had to embrace the policy of
having classrooms with mixed racial groups. Students from the White community
felt that the history lessons portrayed them as perpetrators of a terrible
system, whereas students from the Black community felt like the victims or the offended.
Inevitably, this situation posed a great challenge for history teachers with majority
of the students opting not to take it up as a subject. This called for a change
in curriculum.
The Department of Education, D.O.E., introduced the Outcome Based Education,
O.B.E., system. Outcome-based
education is a model of education that rejects the traditional focus on what
the school provides to students, in favor of making students demonstrate that
they "know and are able to do" whatever the required outcomes are.
The commitment of the newly elected
government to educational reforms was demonstrated by the allocation of funds
to the Ministry of Education. Since 1994, South
Africa has seen massive shifts of resources
in the education sector, making education the single largest budget item (about
6% of GDP). As a proportion, this is amongst the highest in the world (Crouch,
2004).
The Millenium
Development Goals, MDG’s, have also contributed, a
great deal, to educational reform in South
Africa. The target for goal 3 was the elimination of gender disparity in primary
and secondary education by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than
2015. For South Africa, the gross enrolment ratios (GERs) suggest that a
relatively small percentage of primary school aged children are not at school. Data from the General Household Survey of 2003 confirm that over
95% of both boys and girls aged 7 – 13 years were reported to be attending
school. The ratio of girls and boys enrolled in primary school in the period
1990 – 2001 was fairly equal (Jansen, 2002).
Conclusion
The educational reforms in South
Africa have shown that previous experiences
have a great bearing on the success of programs geared to positive change. It has
been demonstrated that mindsets are not easily forgotten and that a lot of
sacrifices have to be made to achieve desired goals as far as education is
concerned.
Referencing
KENPRO (2010).
Educational Reforms in
South Africa.
KENPRO Online Papers Portal. Available
online at www.kenpro.org/papers