SEVENTY THOUSAND PUPILS UNACCOUNTED FOR

So this is the blog that should have been posted on 12 July 2007.

Wow, talk about impacting on the skills shortage that we are already experiencing at them moment - how bad is it going to be in the future.

Part of this, I am sure is to do with the restrictions that Government put on students once they have qualified because of the current skill shortages in various sectors at the moment. If I was studiying to become a doctor for example, I wouldn't want to go and live and work in some obscure rural spot in the middle of nowhere! Perhaps instead of forcing people to do things they should turn it around and encourage people to go where ever. There are always people who will take up the challenge if the price is right!

Seventy thousand pupils unaccounted for
David Macfarlane
Johannesburg, South Africa
06 January 2007 06:00

Large numbers of children are disappearing from the school system before they have a chance to write matric -- and the government still has little idea of why this is happening. Last year, 528 525 pupils wrote matric -- the largest number in five years. But tracking this cohort back to its grade-nine class in 2003 tells a troubling story. In that year, 880 631 grade-nine pupils enrolled in public schools, but 350 000 of them did not go on to write matric last year. Of those 350 000, about 280 000 remained in the education system, says Firoz Patel, Deputy Director General of Education. Some will have failed a year before reaching matric; others moved from public schools to private institutions; and yet more entered further education and training (FET) colleges at some point after grade nine.

But Patel said that this leaves about 70 000 of the 2003 grade nines unaccounted for. In the absence of comprehensive studies on why this is happening, reasons remain speculative, Patel said. However, he pointed to a quantitative study based on household surveys about the impact of education on the population. The study, which was commissioned by the education department last year, showed that dropout rates among 16- to 18-year-olds were highest in the Western Cape and Gauteng. The study speculates that financial reasons might play a part here, because these two provinces have higher average school fees than other provinces. Patel also said that because grade nine is the last year of legally compulsory education, "we can't compel learners to remain: after grade nine it's a personal choice".

Poverty must be the major reason for the high drop-out rates, said Jon Lewis, research officer at the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu). "There is a sense of huge demoralisation -- that people just give up on education," he said. "It is also possible that school principals still persist in forcing borderline pupils out at grade 11 to keep up their matric pass rates. But we don't know, and Sadtu has been asking the government for studies on the problem since 2000. "Boys especially are probably dropping out into gangs, said Jonathan Jansen, dean of education at the University of Pretoria. "There is such economic desperation that youngsters feel they have to go out and earn, even if illegally." Alternatives to school, such as adult education and FET colleges, do need to be strengthened, Patel said. "And we are preparing to look into the reasons for dropouts from the system, probably early this year."