Are South Africans too quick to judge their education system based on immediate experiences? The True South Africa series this week challenges perceptions and reveals how South Africa's education system has managed to adapt and grow amid significant population increases.
South Africans often judge the education system by what they see immediately around them. An overcrowded classroom. A teacher responsible for too many learners. A school struggling to cope with growing enrolment.
These experiences are real. They deserve neither dismissal nor excuse. But they also raise a question that is seldom asked. Compared with what?
Since 1994, South Africa's population has grown from about 40 million people to more than 63 million, an increase of over 50%. Every one of those additional millions has required schools, classrooms, teachers, textbooks and, ultimately, places at universities and colleges. Any serious assessment of education must therefore ask not simply whether the system is under pressure, but whether it has managed to keep pace with one of the fastest expansions in demand in the country's history.
The evidence suggests that, while the system is unquestionably under strain, it has done considerably better than public perception often allows.
