Pretoria - The fourth term of the democratic government, from 2009 to 2014, has seen a massive increase in the enrolment of five-year-old children in formal Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres.
This was revealed in the 2014 Development Indicators report which was released by government on Sunday.
According to the report, the proportion of Grade 1 learners who have attended Grade R reached 87.2% in 2014.
“The share of 5-year-olds attending early childhood development facilities more than doubled from 39% in 2002 to 87% in 2014,” Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation, Jeff Radebe, told reporters in Pretoria at the release of the report.
Early childhood development (ECD) centres are facilities that provide learning and support appropriate to the child's developmental age and stage.
Minister Radebe said improving the quality of ECD was an essential ingredient for improving the results of learners in the whole education system.
To ensure its continued growth, the Minister said government has developed and will commence with implementing a strategy for the supply of appropriately qualified Grade R practitioners.
These practitioners, he said, will have undergone training on a uniform and standardised curriculum for all Grade R learners.
The report also shows that that more learners are writing their matric. The National Senior Certificate pass rate consistently improved from 2008 to 2013, but dipped slightly to 75.8% in 2014.
Minister Radebe said the improved matric pass rates are not necessarily the only indication of improvements in the quality of the system.
A more useful indicator, he said, would be the number of learners achieving passes with marks above 50%.
“An increased number of learners enrolling for Mathematics and Science would also be a reflection of enhanced quality.”
However the reports indicates that less learners are passing mathematics and physical science. There are also fewer registering for the subjects.
Minister Radebe said this was worrying and government has developed various measures to address this.
“Key interventions implemented have included intensified teacher training and continuous development in these subjects; increased monitoring of curriculum coverage, strengthening of partnership with private sector.”
He called on the participation of community and parents in the education which would in the long run improve performance.
The pass rate of learners in special schools is at 88.4%. This is higher than the national average of 75.8%, which suggests that there could be good practices that can be shared.
The report also noted that the number of artisans completing vocational training increased steadily - reaching an average of 18 000 in 2013/14. The National Development Plan target is to produce 30 000 artisans per year by 2030.
Historically, most of the artisan training was carried out by state-owned enterprises (SOEs), but there are indications that commercialisation of state-owned enterprises may have compromised training.
“Since the training of artisans through SOEs has been revived, this has improved the intake of learners. It has also created potential employment opportunities,” said Minister Radebe.
Regarding literacy among adults, the report revealed that in 2014, about 84% of adults in South Africa were literate. This is up from 73% in 2002.
Provincially, over the past ten years, Gauteng and Western Cape have achieved the highest literacy level, almost 90% in Gauteng and 87% in the Western Cape. Eastern Cape and North West have the lowest levels at 74%.
This literacy data pits South Africa favourably against other African and Middle Eastern countries in international comparisons. – SAnews.gov.za
