South Africans often judge the education system by what they see immediately around them: an overcrowded classroom; a teacher responsible for too many pupils; a school struggling to cope with growing enrolment. They deserve neither dismissal, nor excuse. But they also raise a question that is seldom asked.
Since 1994, SA’s population has grown from about 40 million people to more than 63 million, an increase of over 50%. Every one of those additional millions has required schools, classrooms, teachers, textbooks and, ultimately, places at universities and colleges. Any serious assessment of education must therefore ask not simply whether the system is under pressure, but whether it has managed to keep pace with one of the fastest expansions in demand in SA’s history.
The evidence suggests that, while the system is unquestionably under strain, it has done considerably better than public perception often allows. The first challenge facing democratic South Africa was getting children into school. That challenge has largely been overcome.
Today, only around 3% of children between the ages of seven and 18 are not attending school. The overwhelming majority complete the compulsory years of education. The national challenge is therefore no longer one of access, but of quality.
A nuanced story The same pattern emerges when one examines classroom capacity. Critics often point to overcrowded classrooms as evidence that the system is collapsing. But the national pupil-teacher ratio tells a more nuanced story.
Over the democratic period it has fluctuated within a relatively narrow range of between 29 and 33 pupils per teacher. These figures reflect sustained pressure, but not uncontrolled deterioration. Had teacher recruitment failed to keep pace with enrolment growth, those ratios would have risen dramatically.
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