Stats SA Chief Director Isabelle Schmidt says there’s a gap between different population groups in terms of access to higher education.
This is according to the Statistics South Africa General Household Survey of 2018; conducted between 20 000 and 30 000 households in both rural and urban areas.
In its findings, 12% of White people and 11.5% of Indians have access to tertiary education; while the numbers are significantly lower for Coloured and Black people.
In other findings, more South Africans now have access to basic education since the inception of the survey in 2002; dropping the country’s illiteracy levels among young people.
Women between the ages of 18 to 29 years are severely hampered from pursuing their dream to further their studies due to family commitments.
The survey also found that in the higher income quintile, parents read and tell stories to children between the ages of zero to four years.
In the lower income quintile, Schmidt says that some socio-economic factors such as long commutes to work from home or long working hours can prevent children from being exposed to reading and storytelling.
Watch the interview below for more:
