Mr. Baxolile Babongile Nodada, a member of the National Council, recently posed a question to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, regarding the national and provincial school dropout rates for Grades 8 to 12, as well as for Grade 7.
Mr. Nodada wanted to know what is the annual dropout statistics from the year 2015/2017 up until 2021.
The Education Minister's response to Mr. Nodada's question included a table that reflects the estimated percentages of children reaching each grade, as well as the estimated percentages of children dropping out after each grade.
Data collected in a particular year (2017-2019 versus 2019-2021) is reflective of dropping out in the years preceding that year, but not necessarily of dropping out within that year.
The table depicts that data from 2019-2021 shows that the estimated percentage of youths who managed to complete Grade 12 had reached a figure of 57,0%.
For Grade 11 learners, in 2019-2021, about 74.6% had reached the grade but 22.4% had dropped out before getting to matric.
Stats SA's General Household Survey, which is considered to be the most reliable when estimating dropout rates by grade and is conducted annually, found that around 3% of 15-year-olds and nearly 9% of 17-year-olds dropped out of school. However, most 18 and 19-year-olds are still attending secondary school.
On a brighter note, the Survey also revealed that the percentage of individuals aged 20 years and older who did not have any education, decreased from 11,4% in 2002 to 3,2% in 2021, while those with at least a Grade 12 qualification increased from 30,5% to 50,5% over the same period.
Independent education analyst Hendrick Makaneta says that most of the 18-year-olds who have dropped out do so at the Grade 10 level, calling it the "Grade 10 crisis" and says that most of these learners drop out because they are struggling with their studies.
The government intends to reduce dropout rates through proposed changes to the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA Bill).
A law has been proposed which would place an obligation on educators, principals and school governing bodies to keep track of learners who stay absent, in order to prevent them from dropping out.
A large range of activities and initiatives have been created and aimed at advancing this mission.
The Minister says these activities and initiatives, such as the Zero Drop Out campaign, an organisation that aims to use research-based solutions to half the country's school dropout rate by 2030, have shown success so far, as dropping out before completing the National Senior Certificate has been on the decline.
Schooling amongst children at the compulsory ages has (for many years) been kept at almost 100%, though there were some setbacks during the pandemic, added the Minister.
Earlier this year, researchers revealed that an estimated 230 000 and 300 000 learners dropped out of school each year before the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
