Integration of School Systems in South Africa

South Africa has had to cope with a unique problem since the end of the apartheid government in 1994, namely the reintegration of all children into one equal education system. The way in which this has been done and the results achieved has not been very successful to say the least.

During the apartheid era South Africans made use of a three tier education system. The white population were given top quality education and access to the best facilities. The so-called coloured and Indian children were taught based on a system that was adequate, but well below the standards of the white children. African children, who make up almost 70% of the country’s population, were provided with a very basic system of education. They were taught little more than to read and write. There was no control over whether Africans went to school or not because, frankly, the government would have preferred if they stayed at home. This was done largely to protect all top professions for the white minority as well as making it difficult for them to organize an effective opposition to the white government.

After the 1994 elections when the African National Congress came to power, they decided to integrate the three systems into a single system with immediate effect. This, in my opinion, was a big mistake. Children and teachers alike were now being asked to upgrade their standards at the drop of a hat. The result was inevitable disaster. Schools in poorer communities had neither the facilities nor the competent teachers to cope with this sudden change. Overall Grade 12 pass rates dropped dramatically. There was much political fallout with accusations of racism and inequality increasing tensions in the education sector and contributing to the chaos in the system. This has lead to a drop in the overall standards of education in the country in order to push up pass rates.

The introduction of the OBE system at the turn of the century was designed to improve standards and provide children with a more practically-based system. One of the main complaints against the original system was that it was far too theoretical and far removed from the skills required in the job market, not to speak of inadequately preparing children for tertiary study. This system, while appearing fantastic on paper, was and is almost impossible to implement effectively as has been proven in several European countries where it has been tried and abandoned. Rather than providing a solution to our integration problems, it just served to further increase the chaos in the system. The gradual introduction of this OBE system lead to schools having to cope with two totally different systems running parallel to each other for a number of years. The resulting chaos has done little to ease the tensions within the systems.