EDUCATION SYSTEM FAILING IN SA

The education system in South Africa is to blame for the low matriculation pass rates, lack of skills and critical thinking, poverty and high crime rates because of its ineffectiveness and irrelevance to the South African context.

The leading cause of failure in South Africa is that people do not understand the language that is used in education. It is common knowledge among people who have set foot in the township or rural schools, that the learners undeniably do not understand the English language, they cannot use it to verbally express themselves or write effectively. Yet this same language remains the language of teaching.

English is a native language to only about 10% of the South African population, the rest of the population are native speakers of the other 11 official languages of South Africa, which they use every day as primary languages. English is only used at schools for about eight hours a day five days a week, it is not only taught as a language but the language that all teaching is conducted in, which means that a person’s success or failure in school is determined by their proficiency in English.