President Cyril Ramaphosa says learner dropouts and repetition rates are still unacceptably high. He has called on stakeholders in the education sector to work hard to address these.
Ramaphosa was delivering a virtual address to the Basic Education Sector Lekgotla underway in Boksburg on Gauteng’s Eastrand.
The conference, held under the theme “Equipping learners with knowledge and skills for a changing world,” aims to deepen advancements made within the sector over the last decade.
Livestream: Ramaphosa addresses the 2024 Basic Education Sector Lekgotla Conference
High dropout rates
Some of the factors highlighted as contributors to the high dropout and repetition rates include poverty, youth criminality, teenage pregnancies, and general violence in some communities.
Ramaphosa says the government is pursuing policies to try to address the challenges that impede progress in basic education.
“These policies encompass the establishment of no-fee-paying schools. 80% of schools in our country do not require the payment of fees any longer. This is a huge success and progress because the payment of fees for educating our children has brought an inordinate burden on parents. More than 9.6 million children benefit from the national school nutrition programme, they get free textbooks and scholar transport.”
The President adds that the country’s education sector has initiated a new curriculum that caters to all.
“The transformation is to ensure that we have a more inclusive and diverse education landscape. Our nation embarked on developing a new national curriculum that caters to all. Moving away from the fragmented curriculum previously offered by 18 departments of education.”
Addressing the #BasicEducationLekgotla for the last time in the 6th Administration, Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, has thanked the ‘village’ of stakeholders for their cooperation & support in the projects and programmes established to improve basic education. pic.twitter.com/xHBp9yhrRU
— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) March 14, 2024
