Equal Education (EE) felt that the words around resolving issues in the education sector were pleasant, however, they will wait for the budget allocation for the sector and would also like to hear more about how the plans will be implemented implementation.
This was the reaction of EE to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on the government working to ensure South African learners get the quality education they need.
One issue that the President touched on was the issue of infrastructure that will be resolved.
Water and sanitation remain a concerning challenge in rural and remote areas.
According to the July 2021 South African Human Rights Commission report, close to half (44%) of Eastern Cape schools were reported to use pit toilets as their primary ablution facilities, and this province led in this report.
To read the full report, click here.
In an ENCA, live interview Equal Education Researcher Jane Bowman shared:
A big issue that we found is the school infrastructure delivery model, so that's the procurement and the contracts. There's a lot of issues in how it's rolled out [and] issues of corruption.
Bowman added that if the school infrastructure delivery model is not properly managed, this simply means that things will remain unchanged.
South Africa recorded its highest dropout rate during the Covid-19 pandemic, EE has suggested that a holistic investment needs to be used in the school system in order to address the issue of dropouts.
“If we don't make sure that we invest in the people of South Africa, and the children of South Africa, then that impact has a knock-on effect for everything,” said Bowman.
This stems from the fact that Equal Education felt that the attention given to Basic Education was not enough.