A study conducted by the Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA) has revealed that more learners are enrolled in South Africa's private schools than in public schools.
The study looked at matric pass rates in private schools compared to pass rates in public schools; the data published showed that between the years 2000 and 2001, the number of learners receiving primary and secondary education from independent schools has increased by 174%.
Amongst the findings are that despite private schools notoriously being more expensive than public schools, the middle class and families from a poorer background are still handing over large amounts of money for schools fees, even though it might not necessarily be affordable for them.
The reasoning is that they wish to send their children to schools with "better quality education".
The South African education system consists of independent schools and government schools, and the notion is that while private education is far more expensive than public education, they also generally offer higher standards and more resources than would be available at public schools.
"The performance of public schools in South Africa is quite concerning and that is why we are seeing the phenomenon of this huge rise in the number of private, independent schools; but of course these schools come with a hefty price tag and it's usually only your middle class families and households that can afford to go to these private schools," says Gerbrandt Van Heerden, Deputy Head of Research at the CRA.
To combat some of the challenges within the education system (particularly at public schools), the CRA is proposing a "tax-funded education voucher system", that would be available and redeemable at any school, private or public.
At the moment, the voucher proposal is just that; the plan is still in the works, as the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and South Africa's government as a whole needs to be brought on and made aware of the suggestion, but Van Heerden says there is a lack of urgency from the government when it comes to addressing the quality of education.
"The problem is, we are sitting with a government who is essentially ignoring the problems that's facing our education system...each year government praises the matric pass rate that is now 80% for the 2022 class. What that essentially ignores is the very low pupil retention rate that we have in this country; half of all children enrolled in Grade One or Grade Two don't make it to matric to write their final matric examinations, so the pass rate is much lower," explains Van Heerden.
"We also have a phenomenon of Grade Inflation in public schools, where children who keep on repeating the same grade eventually get pushed to the next grade to unclog the system. And when the DBE is criticized for the poor performance of public schools, they'll say 'don't compare public schools with private schools' because private schools have smaller classes, better facilities...Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, has been in her post since 2009, and that alone should say that there is no plan for the education system; there is no urgency to deal with the education system," he elaborated.
The voucher would eliminate the necessity of having to enroll learners in public schools that are closest to where they reside and that don't offer better quality education; families won't necessarily have to choose from their only available option.
According to the CRA, each family will undergo a means test to determine which households are low-income. The households will then receive the voucher which can be spent on education, which will in turn "financially empower them to have a choice" in where their child should attend school.
"What we want to do is make these types of schools [private schools] more accessible for poorer households that live in rural areas or in townships. So what we are suggesting is taking a portion of the [education] budget, or the proportion of expenditure that we spend on education, and we divert it to a voucher system that is specific to education," said Van Heerden.
The voucher's goal is to essentially provide families with more than one option in terms of where they should/can send their children to schools, and can be used to consider "better performing private [or public] schools", than just what is available.
