Education Is In Crisis Essay

Education is in crisis

“Education is the most powerful weapon which one can use to change the world” Nelson Mandela. We often hear a lot about education in our everyday lives, this shows that it is indeed important for one to acquire it. According to Big Indonesia Dictionary (1991) education is well-defined as a learning process where higher specific objects are understood and knowledge is attained by an individual. Educational institutions is where education is primarily acquired. An on-going crisis in South African education has been witnessed. This essay will focus on the quality of education in South Africa, the challenges that face the education system.

Past apartheid system is one of the reasons why South Africa’s education is where

Mathematics s and science are amongst the most-often failed and least-popular subjects, regardless of their vital importance. Most of those kids who do not pass very well end up roaming around the street and are at a very high risk of engaging in activities that can harm their future and they are may become unemployed for some time if not permanently. Only 30 percent of those who passed will qualify for university. Those that enter into the university, 50 percent of them drop out in their first year. In the remaining 50 percent, only 15 percent is believed to graduate.

A huge problem here is the absenteeism of teachers in schools. About 39 000 teachers absent themselves from school, that is between ten to 12 percent. Seventy seven percent of these discretionary sick leave do not require a medical certificate since they lasted for a single day or two. It is very surprising that teacher become sick mostly on Fridays and

Barrier to quality education can be the quality and availability of study materials in schools. This country is amongst the countries that lack basic material such as textbooks, materials that support teachers, workbooks, and the unavailability of these things may be due to lack of financial resources and transportation.

The other factor that contribute to the crisis of education in South Africa is that there is a huge gap between basic and higher education. It looks like basic education loses its value when the child has finished his/her schooling years. Tertiary level is completely different from secondary school. The workload is big compared to secondary level. The kids have to adjust from being spoon fed to doing things for themselves. The type of assessment is completely different from that of high school. Making it harder for first year students to perform at their level