Enter Task

Faculty:

Study area:

Subject:

Section:

Type:

Curriculum:

Sequence:

Title:

Wording:

Time:

hours

Introduction:

South Africa is one of the African countries, which invest most in the education 
sector. After the apartheid era, the main objective of the governors was to do away 
with the inequalities in access to education. Many measures have been taken to 
resolve the issue of financing the schools. For example, the State started to allocate 
additional resources for the most disadvantaged schools, but, on the other hand, the 
families have to pay a kind of monthly payment for the schools. In the last ten years, 
many educational reforms have been introduced to improve the quality of teaching 
and to achieve education for all. At the level of primary education (1st to 7th 
grades), the teaching material is free (books, uniform, a meal at school, etc). 
 
In spite of all these reforms, in practice a quality education in South Africa is not for 
everyone. Some experts and educational researchers say that the reality of South 
Africa shows that public education is not truly public. The school fees are a way to 
select those who enter the school. In schools that receive socially privileged 
students, the monthly payment is higher. The part of the financing which is public 
happens by compensation: the poorest schools receive more money, since the 
parents cannot afford the high monthly fees. But in reality, there is no full 
compensation, because the school fees that are paid in rich schools are considerably 
larger than the difference of the public subsidy between rich and poor schools. 
Thus, the schools are characterized by education for all and quality for some! 
Now you may remember the task on the hidden face of Apartheid. If you have not 
done this task yet, I suggest that you read in order to understand more about the 
economic Apartheid in South Africa. What is happening in education is a reflection 
of economic inequality. 
 
The problem of social inequality and access to quality education in South Africa is 
visible everywhere. One of the reactions was unleashed in the days between 
September the 21 st and 27th, 2008, in Cape Town, where thousands of children 
marched in the direction of the Prefecture. They were children from schools in the 
townships (often underdeveloped urban areas only for blacks under the Apartheid 
regime, and are usually built on the periphery of the cities). The children rose their 
voices in chorus &amp;quot;Give us libraries and librarians. We want more information and 
knowledge&amp;quot;. Education for all is only present in the political vision, but the reality is 
otherwise. 
 
This is just one example and it shows that in spite of numerous educational policies 
that were implemented to transform the schools into instruments of generation of 
opportunities, the efforts have failed in the eyes of a population that had more 
expectations. 
 
Therefore, this task provides you an opportunity to analyze the implemented 
educational reforms since the end of apartheid and to reflect about its impact on the 
real life of the people, in spite of the economic potential of the country.

Directive:

Preview:

Files:

Requirement:

No.

Title

Type

Edit

Delete

Examination:

Language:

Search words:

Status:

Vouching: