The struggles of
South African Students
By Lizzie Madison
FEATURES
An interview with South African exchange students, Amira Sithole and Hamish McKenzie, about the struggles of high school students in their country, attributes the major contributor of stress to the lack of government funding towards education.
While private education continues to excel, the public schools in South Africa are plagued with many issues the government is turning a blind eye to. The government refuses to address the increasing rates of students who are failing courses, and simply modify the tests to accommodate the failing classes. For example, due to the absurd amount of students failing math, the passing average for the subject was dropped to 33.33%, which still yielded a low percentage of passing individuals.
The reason for the alarming failing rates is due to two major reasons: students’ lack of motivation for an education and the shortage of teachers. Both Hamish and Amira explain if a student finds a subject too hard, instead of asking for help, they simply choose not to learn. Most of the younger generation do not have any aspirations, and a majority of the fault lies in the government. Amira comments, "We use to have thirty top-rated universities, but they dropped because they were getting less (government) funding." It doesn't give any incentive for the educated population to stay in the country, and a majority of the graduates choose to leave South Africa due to the lack of opportunity. Due to this, the younger generation is suffering because potential teachers are leaving the roles to individuals who, in some cases, have not completed middle school.
Since rural areas suffer the most from the lack of government attention, high schools have implemented a system called equal opportunity. This means when choosing between a student from a privileged background and one from a rural area with similar grades, the child from the rural area would most likely be chosen. This makes it extremely difficult for both types of students. For rural students, if they want to attend a high school, they will have to find means other than school to teach themselves. For those from a better off background, it shows them there will always be other individuals the system prefers.
An example of the government’s lack of care would be the education at Red Hill Primary, one of Providence Day School's outreach schools. When talking with Nadia Johnson, Executive Director of Diversity and Multicultural Education, she comments “They have no set curriculum. The only books they have are usually the ones we give them, and that is their curriculum.” She further goes on and explains, that the main issue with how the school functions is they teach in their native language and completely disregards English. This issue does not only pertain to Red Hill, but a vase portion of South African schools. Colleges require students to submit a written essay in English, and the only way to hope for a better future in South African society is to obtain a degree.
Lastly, South African society must find a way to ease the racial tension, since as of currently, a majority of the educated population is white. The deeply rooted racial issues prevent educated white and African teachers from working in places where they are most needed.
To truly address the daily struggles of students in South Africa, it would take more than changing their individual schools, but instead an overhaul of the whole education system.
"We use to have thirty top-rated universities, but they dropped because they were getting less funding"
- Amira Sithole
Image courtesy of U.S. Department of State Department of State
Hamish McKenzie(left) and Amira Sithole(right)
Image courtesy of L. Madison
The Charger, December 2017
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