4 September 2006
Monitoring and evaluation report on the impact and outcomes of the education
system on South Africaâs population: evidence from household surveys.
In 2003 nearly 97 percent of 7 to 15 year olds (the compulsory school age)
attended an educational institution.
This is revealed in a new report, based on evidence from household surveys,
published by the Department of Education this week and is available at http://www.education.gov.za.
In a concise and easy-to-read fashion, the report summarises trends in
different aspects and indicators of education service provision since 1995. It
is the first report to emerge from the new Monitoring and Evaluation Unit in
the Department of Education.
It was commissioned from the Development Policy Research Unit in the School
of Economics at the University of Cape Town.
âThis service delivery indicator report on the system will be continuously
refined in future to include the results of monitoring and evaluation studies
and analyses as they become available, so that continuous performance
improvement is guaranteed at all levels,â said DG Duncan Hindle today. âI urge
all who are interested in education to make use of the information in these
reports in the interests of achieving quality education for all in our system,
our country and on our continent.â
The main data sources for this report are the October Household Surveys of
1995 and 1999, the September issues of the Labour Force Surveys of 2001 and
2003, the General Household Survey of 2003, and the 10% samples of the national
population censuses of 1996 and 2001.
âThe report deals first with living conditions, then with demographic
indicators of education, followed by the interaction between education and
labour market outcomesâ, said Hersheela Narsee, Director of the Monitoring and
Evaluation Unit in the Department of Education.
The most important issues that the report highlights are the following:
The demand for high school and higher education institutions is likely to
grow strongly over the medium term, while the demand for primary institutions
is expected to grow at a slower rate.
While overall population growth over the 1995 - 2003 periods averaged 2,0%
percent per annum, the growth rate for 16 to 18 year olds was almost twice that
at 3,7% per annum.
The situation is particularly acute in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the
Western Cape and Gauteng, where growth amongst the 16 to 18 year age group was
most rapid between 1995 and 2003.
There are very young populations in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal,
Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
Net migration to Gauteng and the Western Cape raised increased child
populations by 76 000 and 46 000 respectively, while Limpopo and the Eastern
Cape experienced net out-migration of 20 000 and 46 000 children respectively.
Poverty is regional in impact and the number of vulnerable children has grown
sharply
The Eastern Cape, North West and Limpopo, in particular, are characterised
by low access rates to important household services, lower educational
attainment, higher dependency ratios and unemployment rates, low incomes, and
higher dependence on social grants. All of these factors, as well as others,
combine to create conditions in which the progress of learners through the
education system is hampered.
A trend that is set to continue over the medium term and which has important
implications for the education system is that of rising orphan hood rates. The
number of single orphans rose by almost half a million to just over two million
between 1995 and 2003, while the number of double orphans increased by
approximately 150 000 to 371 000 over the same period.
This increase places significant burdens on affected childrenâs families and
on the state. The fact that significant numbers of children still live in
households that are unable to provide them with sufficient food, points to the
important role that school feeding schemes play in supplementing learnerâs
diets.
The educational profile of the South African population has shown signs of
improvement over the 1995 to 2003 period. Looking at the 25 to 34 year
age-group, important improvements are observable. There have been marked
increases in the proportion of the population completing Grade 12. In 2003,
around 30% of the population over 25 years of age had completed Grade 12,
compared to 25,6% in 1995.
This trend is, however, not limited to the 1995 to 2003 period, since
improved educational attainment is also evident amongst 35 to 64 year olds.
Simultaneously, the proportion of adults classified as illiterate (being unable
to read or write in any language) has declined, as has the proportion of adults
not completing Grade six (which is a proxy for functional illiteracy).
The result of this improvement in educational profile has meant that
educational inequalities, as roughly measured by years of education Gini
co-efficients, have declined. While inequality for the adult population over 25
years as a whole is relatively high, it is lower amongst 25 to 64 year olds and
significantly lower amongst 25 to 34 year olds.
School fees remain a barrier to education.
In 2001, nine in ten learners paid less than R500 in school fees each
year.
Nonetheless, fees were reported to be the number two problem amongst 7 to 18
year olds attending school in 2003, behind a lack of books.
For Coloureds, Asians and Whites, high school fees were the number one
problem.
In 2003 by far the most common reason for not attending school was that
there was insufficient money for fees (see figure below). Other reasons cited
by relatively high numbers of both males and females, namely that education was
useless or uninteresting (9,9% overall), that the individual was too old or too
young (8,5%) or that the individual was prevented by illness (8,1%).
Pregnancy is the main reason amongst females not attending school, with 1 in
10 reporting this to be their main reason for not attending. Females were also
far more likely to not attend an educational institution due to family
commitments, which included child-minding, than males (8.2% vs. 0,4%
respectively).
Graphic: Main Reason for Currently Not Attending an Educational Institution,
7 to 18 Year Olds, 2003 (For the graphic please contact Department of
Education)
School meals are relatively well targeted at learners from poorer households,
although targeting is far from perfect.
In 1999, six in ten learners in the poorest two household quintiles
benefited from school meals. However, significant numbers of learners in the
top quintiles also accessed school feeding schemes: one in ten in quintile five
(the best-off quintile), and three in ten in quintile four.
Further, the largest increases in access to school feeding schemes between
1995 and 1999 occurred in quintiles two and three and not in quintile one.
Access to skills training is unevenly distributed across the working-age
population. Approximately one in ten of the working-age population reported
receiving ârecentâ training in 2003.
However, employed individuals are significantly more likely to have received
training than their unemployed counterparts. Whites are also more likely to
have received training than members of the other race groups, as are males when
compared to females.
Individuals with higher levels of educational attainment are also more
likely to have received training than those with no education or low levels of
education, particularly from incomplete secondary education and less.
Differences across these four variables - employment status, race, gender
and educational attainment - serve to reinforce past inequalities by adding
skills to those who relatively least require them.
Lunga Ngqengelele
Tel: (012) 312 5538
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: ngqengelele.l@doe.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education
4 September 2006
