Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says she is concerned about the number of school dropouts including matriculants this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Addressing the media during the National Teacher’s Union 102nd anniversary which was celebrated in KwaZulu-Natal at the weekend, Motshekga said the department was still collecting national statistics.
She says so far statistics on dropout rates in all grades combined could be as high as 10 percent.
“We are still collecting statistics, some are coming in, some came in August, some came in September but teachers tell me that there are some who came in October but the estimation in terms of our assessment could be as high as 10% which is quite huge because 10% in our system is more than a million and it’s very concerning.”
In the video below, Dean and Head of the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Professor Thabo Msibi speaks about school dropouts:
In the video below, the Co-Head of Research at Equal Education, Roné McFarlane says dropout rates are a huge issue in South Africa:
