Education for All report card--How did our government score?

The Report Card is used to evaluate the government, and in particular those ministers and MECs responsible for the education and social development of our children. The Global Campaign for Education is a coalition of grassroots civil society organisations dealing with education, poverty and development. The aim of the GCE is to mobilise the public and pressure governments to fulfil the promises to provide free quality education for all as agreed upon two years ago at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal.

Cape march: Tony Erenreich (COSATU Eastern Cape Provincial Secretary), Solly Mabusela (GCE-SA Chairperson) and Lin Helme (Chairperson, Western Cape Adult Learning Forum) with pallbearers attending the slow death of adult education. Photo: Trace Images.
The massive mobilisation of civil society behind the demands of the Global Campaign for Education and the Education for All was succesful and a great build up towards an educational parliament to be held later in June. Marches and summits for adult learners and ECD practitioners were held in many provinces. In Gauteng over 3 000 GCE members marched to the education department to highlight our cause, in particular that of adult learners.
The Ministry of Education's response (below right) to the report card stating that it was "uninformed and unprofessional" as well as their allegations that civil society was trying to score points, was dismissed "with contempt" by the GCE. If stakeholders representing all aspects of education are "uninformed" could it not be that the education authorities are not sharing information and working in a genuinely participatory manner?
The Ministry was asked to address the "real issue of poverty and exclusion and not to divert attention from it". The GCE believes that only research and analysis verified by all (government and stakeholders) will be acceptable as an agreed upon assessment of the country's delivery of the Education For All goals.
"For this to succeed we need to sit down in a national education parliament, preferably on June 16," said Solly Mabusela, chairperson of GCE-SA.
He pointed out that the GCE does not want to score points but instead wants to sit down with the government in an inclusive (that is all education constituencies) to draw up an national action plan. "The GCE is the most representative of all education stakeholders and is part of the solution. No national education plan can be drawn up without the GCE members and other stakeholders outside our ranks" he said. We will use these pages to debate how we have delivered on our EFA objectives.

At that meeting 185 governments agreed on the following objectives:
1 Expand early childhood care and education.
2 Provide free and compulsory education of good quality by 2015.
3 Promote the acquisition of life skills for adolescents and youth.
4 Increase adult literacy rates by 50 per cent by 2015.
5 Eliminate gender disparities in education by 2005 and achieve gender equality by 2015.
6 Enhance educational quality.
Expand early childhood care and education
Government scores: F
The ministry and department of education have failed the children of this country.
For years educationists punted the dictum that "learning begins at birth" to underwrite the importance of early childcare and initial education -- both formal and informal involving families, communities and institutions. The SA Assessment Report 2002 held ECD as a key recommendation: "Expansion of ECD programmes to meet the demands of parents to prepare children for timely and appropriate entry in Grade 1. Provision of a Reception year (Grade 0) as part of the compulsory years of schools should help to reduce the large numbers of under-age children enrolled in Grade 1 and contribute to the education of high repetition rates at the Grade level.
"Entry-age Grade 1 should be closely regulated. Since the first nine years of schooling are compulsory and free, the state needs to ensure that the funds earmarked for this phase are well spent. Also, any tardiness in this phase, i.e. repetition, can cause unnecessary blockages in the system resulting in serious backlogs."
Despite the obvious error of the statement that education is free, it is true that after decades of promises ECD remains a low priority for governments. Governments continue to drag their feet in making the necessary commitments to young children with the necessary policies, regulatory frameworks and sufficient resources to meet these fundamental goals. Civil society organisations wait as willing partners but it is government that must lead if our children are to receive the benefits of the promises.
The national audit of ECD provision at

23 482 ECD sites, conducted by the Department of Education (DoE), suggests that fewer than one sixth of the 6.4 million children in the 0-7 age group receive some sort of ECD provision (DoE, 2001). In addition the audit suggests that there are huge backlogs in infrastructure, support and qualifications of educators at existing ECD sites. We must also tackle the great disparities between urban and rural areas, which is endemic of capitalism.
The lack of infrastructure for effective learning obviously applies to the ECD sector as well. The South African Council of Educators (SACED) believes that the introduction of grade R (six-year-olds) was not matched with the employment of qualified trained professionals. Only 200 000 out of a million learners currently have access to the reception year programmes due to lack of funding and information.
Provide free and compulsory education of good quality by 2015
Government scores: D
The Minister of Education, and his colleagues in other ministries and departments responsible for HIV/AIDS policies, school feeding schemes and poverty eradication all get a D for their efforts. The reason is that if the political will exists to abolish fees now, we will be ready to meet the deadline of 2005. In addition, the schools norms and standards of funding were well intentioned, but in practice it fails to eradicate poverty and inequality. Donor funding is available to assist in making this goal a reality.
Instead of free education we have the norms and standards of school funding which in theory aims at redress and equitable distribution of funds to schools. In practice, however, this system has failed as proof exists that children from poor and working class communities continue to bear the costs of school uniforms, fees, transport to and from schools, school cleaning, costs for food as well as costs for text books and writing materials. A research project by the Alliance for Childrens' Entitlement for Social Security (ACESS), to determine the viability of a social security grant of R100, found that school fees and other costs were a burden to learning.
Some quotes from the report:
"The teachers shout at you. They say that we cannot sit on the seats at school because we don't pay school fees. People who sit on the chairs are those who pay school fees. The teachers like to swear at us. They don't have a good way of approaching children. They keep on teasing us about the school fees. It is not nice because we also like to pay. We just don't have money." (girl, 11, Northern Province).
"I didn't receive my report because I didn't pay fees. My mother was forced to pay R50 in order for me to receive my report." (girl, 12, KwaZulu-Natal)
"I don't have shoes to go to school and uniform. If I don't have uniform they send me back. I am going now because I use the clothes of my brother." (boy, 10, Northern Province)
"I will be happy if I can have money for transport because I am far away from school. I walk a long distance to school and I pass next to the dangerous place and I walk a long distance to school without having anything to eat." (girl, 11, Northern Province)
"My problem is I do not even have a chance to read my books. After school I go to work. When I come back from work I already feel like sleeping and I just sleep because I am tired. I wake up late. I am always late here at school. I've never been early. Another problem is that I am always tired, I am always tired. "(boy, 12, E Cape)
Children with disabilities
"I have a problem because our school ends at Grade 9. I am a Grade 9 learner now and I will have to go to another school. This is a problem because these other schools are expensive. My parents cannot afford to pay a lot of money for school. When we say can't we have the disability grant now so we can use it to go to school, we are told we must wait until we are 18." (girl, 14, physically disabled)
Will a basic income grant help?
"Yes, R100 would help -- we can use some to buy uniform, food, pay water, to help my grandmother to do a fence at home. We also need to fix our house so we don't suffer from the rain and wind. We would also use it to buy stationery for school. "(boy, 10) Others said: "Will buy brown shoes for school." (boy, 8,) "Buy food, clothes, help to pay school fees and to pay rent at home." (girl, 13, N Cape)
The case of South Africa is not different from that experienced by many developing countries as OXFAM International found in their report, Education Charges -- a tax on human development, in Tanzania, Ghana, and Zambia. OXFAM found that "education charges also magnify other problems, such as girls' education where a low value is already ascribed, gender inequalities are likely to be reinforced by high costs, with parents reluctant to pay for their daughters' schooling.
"The evidence is indisputable. Success in achieving universal basic education depends on education becoming affordable to the poor, and this requires the abolition of education charges. When Malawi removed education fees in 1994 the school population almost doubled in one year, illustrating a huge pent-up demand for education.
"But abolishing user fees requires a major increase in financing as well as coherent strategies to improve the quality of education and manage the surge in demand that will inevitably follow. Many poor countries lack the resources to deliver such a strategy, and will require external help. The international community will need to improve on its grossly inadequate record."
Other impediments to learning include diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and child-labour.
The SA Assessment Report 2002 correctly states that the threat posed by HIV/AIDS to the population requires supreme multi-sectoral interventions. "The spread of HIV/AIDS, if not arrested, will annihilate large sections of the productive population thus undoing whatever gains and investment made to uplift communities. The Ministry of Education has committed itself to announcing clear policy around HIV/AIDS and to working closely with the Ministry of Health in addressing the challenge."
The education department did pronounce on progressive policy but many believe did little else thereafter because these policies were beset by national government inertia and dilly-dallying.
Learners and teachers are dying of HIV/AIDS. Out of the world's 33.6 million HIV/AIDS infection cases, UNAIDS found that 23.3 million were from Sub-Saharan Africa, of which the majority were young people aged between 15 and 25.
The HIV epidemic is destroying educational and public health institutions. Peter Badcock-Walters of the University of Natal argues that SA is witnessing a decline in the quality of education which negatively impacts on potential and productivity. His study estimates that 275 000 school-age children in KZN are not attending school. First grade enrolment has dropped 60% since 1998. Almost 85% of schools have reported the death of teachers, presumably from AIDS.
SA is likely to experience a teacher shortage if current trends continue, needing about
70 000 new teachers to "replace the sick and dying" over the next 10 years for KZN alone. Badcock-Walters adds: "AIDS deaths among teachers are expected to climb dramatically during the next 10 years. Replacement teachers, who are younger and less experienced, have even higher HIV infection rates than their predecessors -- and limited access to treatment that might prolong their lives." We trust that with the renewed government commitment to tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic the future will become brighter.
Eradicating child labour
Government scores: E
The joint "losers" are ministers of Social Development and Labour. The Minister of Labour did well by proceeding with the ratification of the ILO Conventions on minimum age for employment and elimination of the worst forms of child labour; also on the conducting of a groundbreaking national survey on child labour in 1999. However, he failed to ensure the speedy release of the survey results and to proceed with the policy and implementation process which should have immediately flowed from the survey.
School-based child labour, in particular in many rural schools, takes learners away from learning. Chores such as cleaning of toilets, classrooms, etc. -- which do not happen at well resourced schools -- are discriminatory and deprive learners of an education. The School Register of Needs (2001) commissioned by the education department found that in a large number of schools an environment of effective learning and teaching does not exist.
The GCE partner, Network Against Child Labour (NACL), has found that while a decision to commission a high-quality national survey on young persons was laudable, the delay in releasing the report did not endear the department and ministry of labour to the public and civil society.
The findings are a cause for concern as they reflect that one in three learners is involved in child labour and over one million children spend at least eight hours per week on survival tasks such as fetching water, wood etc. Nearly 1.3 million children spent at least five hours per week on cleaning and improvements at schools; 12 000 of them spent 34-38 hours per week on this work. As a result school attendance falls.
The department particularly failed to get all the authorities to work together to eradicate this growing scourge. (F). Overall result: E (can do better) The ministry of social development, on the other hand, was rated only for the intention to make social security systems into an efficient and comprehensive system. However, like other departments, on implementation they suffer (E) particularly the extension of child support grants to children over six years (and here the responsibility also resides with the ministry of finance!); failure to effectively bind and work with the DoE to ensure the provisioning of ECD for all children in need; and providing budgets and plans for the social service component of their department which is necessary to free children from child labour
Promote the acquisition of life skills for adolescents and youth & Increase adult literacy rates by 50% by 2015
Government scores: F+
The Education for All 2000 Assessment South Africa report (November 1999) listed as one of its key recommendations/challenges improving adult literacy because "illiteracy is a scourge that blights development efforts in all areas of community life and needs to be eradicated immediately". It stated that the "current level of illiteracy in the population is not acceptable and is likely to be underestimated".
Worldwide about 872 million adults are illiterate, of whom about 13 million are South African. Approximately 7.58 million adults (people aged 15 and older) have less than Grade 7. Young adults who were pushed out of school because of age or other reasons remain unskilled, unemployed and in need of greater societal inclusion. The goal of a fully literate world with South Africa playing its meaningful role remains urgent.
The Adult Learners Network reveals that less than 2% of the national education budget is spent on adult education reinforcing the pool of unemployment and illiteracy. The departments of labour and education must clearly combine to provide viable, effective programmes. The "losers prize" is shared by the ministers of education and labour responsible for skills development. The youth are squeezed out of school to non-existent or quickly diminishing adult education centres. Providing quality adult education is mandated by the Constitution and is not a favour!
Eliminate gender disparities in education by 2005 and achieve gender equality by 2015
Government scores: E
The Department of Education would have got a D for the enrolment of children to school -- especially the girl child -- had it not been for the pressures that expel them from learning once at school. Here we are talking about prejudice, child labour and HIV/Aids, tackling prejudices against girls and immigrants (xenophobia), sexual violence against children -- particularly the girl child -- as well as poverty is a cause for concern.
The abuse of girl children by teachers and peers at school is a cause for concern. At home and in our communities the abuse of women, and girls in particular, also serves to provide a poor score for the departments concerned.
The tackling of the infrastructural backlogs identified by the School Register of Needs will go a long way to getting the "soul" and "body" of real learning on track. This will serve as an added incentive to come to schools! The SRN (2000) found that more than 45% of our schools do not have electricity; more than 27% do not have clean water, 66 % of schools -- about 18 000 -- are without adequate sanitation at all. In addition, the education department must do more to track enrolment and effective learning -- particularly girl children. Gallant efforts have been made at tackling violence and abuse of the girl child, however more can be done by civil society organisations -- especially student organisations and teacher unions in speaking out and expelling from membership perpetrators of violence and abusers of girls in their ranks.
Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, who is responsible for budgeting for all programmes, shares the booby prize. The Minister, albeit reluctantly, has taken Cabinet responsibility for the massive R66-billion arms deal which could have eradicated all our public service needs (school, hospital etc) in one fell swoop.
Enhance educational quality
Government (and civil society) must try harder.
It would be extremely reactionary of anybody to ignore the great strides made by the first democratically elected government led by the African National Congress. This new government is largely responsible for the new Constitution with its bill of rights, and the amalgamation of the myriad disparate racially constituted education departments into a unitary education government and system oriented towards the achievement of human rights values. Attempts to rehabilitate school infrastructure and the consistent tracking thereof is widely appreciated. In addition, the other struggles towards equity and redress in the form of legislation and policy measures and budgeting are also acknowledged.
However, after eight years of our new democracy, comradely reflections are urgently called for on the new challenges imposed by capitalism in the context of corporate-led globalisation. The massive unemployment and poverty crisis is one such challenge that we must tackle head on if education for all is to be realised. For this fight to succeed we will need the genuine participation (with education authorities and government) of strong civil society organisations, in particular student organisations, school governing bodies and teacher unions and education NGOs.

Response from the Department of Education - prepared by GCE steering committee.
South Africa is well on track to achieving all the targets, and even exceeding many of them, within the time frames set for these. With proper co-operation we can certainly expect to do so. However, the achievement of outstanding targets is not helped by pointing fingers, scoring points or doing a report, especially where these actions are around emotive issues.
Access to education: South Africa has no reason to be complacent about our educational provision; this has often been recognised. But on the major commitments of Dakar we are indeed well advanced, as the following information shows:
• South Africa has a net enrolment of 91% for children aged 6-13. Gross enrolment for the general education band, which includes over-age learners, is 97%. Gross enrolment is over 100% in some provinces, with 112% enrolment in the Eastern Cape.
• From 1991-1997 secondary enrolments grew by 42%, while primary enrolments grew by 10%. Since 1997 there has been a lower demand for places, and primary enrolments decreased by 2% (8.1m to 7.9m) and secondary grew by only 4% (3.9m to 4.1m).
The UNESCO Education for All report on South Africa concludes: The (South African) school system is able to absorb nearly all its primary school population, including those outside the official age bracket. This is implied by the gross enrolment ratio of 97%.
Funding of education: The South African campaign links school participation to the payment of fees. This assumes that fees are the cause of non-attendance, rather than various social factors, and as a result there is a call for the abolition of school fees. While this may be a popular slogan, the logic is seriously flawed. By eradicating school fees the state would be subsidising the education of the rich at the same level as the poor.

Currently we spend most on the poorest 20% of schools. We allocate to these schools seven times more money than wealthy schools: a poor school with 1 000 learners may receive R196 000, while a similar school in a wealthy area will only receive a grant of R28 000. We can only do this because of school fees in the wealthier schools, and so the demand for fees to be abolished and for this to be equalised is simply a call for no redress to take place.
Data shows that 85% of schools charge less than R500 per year, and only the top 10% pay in excess of R300. School fees consume between 0.5 and 1% of family income, which is a very small proportion to allocate to the education of our children. In addition, the protection of the law is there for poor parents, and this must be upheld. Where there is any case of school exclusion based on illegal or covert means, it must be reported, and the department will act. In time for the registration period, a tollfree hotline will be announced where complaints can be lodged, and advice centres established to assist with placements. We also ask informed members of civil society, especially teachers, to be more vigilant about such matters.
The same confusion lies behind the demands of SASCO for free higher education. Higher education, here and elsewhere, is accessed by large numbers of students from the middle classes. Free higher education would mean using state funds to pay for wealthy students to go to university, whereas we believe they should be used to help poor students, and have set up a special fund to do so.
Since 1994 the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has distributed R3-billion to help 230 000 poor students attend a university or technikon. This year alone, nearly R800-million has been allocated to the NSFAS, double the amount of last year. This targeted support is much more effective at alleviating the consequences of poverty than a blanket support for rich and poor alike.
Participation of girls: South Africa has one of the highest participation rates for girls in education, at all levels. Only 44% of Grade 12 pupils were boys. Of sole concern should be the nature of schooling for girls, in the context of widespread sexual abuse. This is most probably the biggest contributor to the non-participation of girls at higher levels of the school system.
Adult education: 67% of South Africans aged 15 and above and 83% of those aged 15-24 have completed Grade 6 and are considered functionally literate. Many more are literate in the sense of being able to read and write. These levels of literacy are the highest in Africa, and among the highest within developing nations.
State spending on adult education increased from R248-million last year to R822-million for the current year (a 100% increase). By 2004 this is planned to grow to R1.2-billion -- a five-fold increase since 1998. In addition to normal budgeted funds for adult education, an analysis of the sector must take into account:
• significant donor funding for ABET and literacy;
• state-managed poverty relief funds like Ikhwelo and Umsobomvu, some of which have been allocated to ABET, and which exceed R100-million over three years;
• the National Skills Fund which is ploughing millions into ABET through the SETAs; and
• the skills levy paid by employers, since much of the skills development is directed at basic education levels, including literacy.
The Ministry of Education accepts its obligation as government to prepare a country report to take to the next World Education Forum, in which we will make our own objective assessment of progress towards the objectives of Education for All. In accordance with the Dakar resolution, and our own principles, this report will be extensively consulted upon. Civil society organisations in the education sector have been invited to collaborate on the preparation of the report, including through their participation in the Education Summit planned for mid-year.
An obstructionist and oppositional approach will only result in a poorer report going forward, which will reflect on this country, and on civil society organisations.

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