Education can be defined as: “The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgement and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.”
How can South Africa improve its education system?
The education system is facing a number of challenges, such as corruption and nepotism which has contributed to the failure of higher education systems in the country.
There is a need to practise higher education and make it more relevant to local needs.
Dr Mamphela Ramphele, who is a former vice-chancellor at the University of Cape Town has a number of suggestions for how South Africa can improve its education system, such as:
Conducting subject-specific competency tests for all teachers.
This may lead to improved skills for teachers by identifying strengths and weaknesses.
Provide allowances for working in rural areas and scarce skills, such as maths.
Teachers working in rural areas often go without adequate resources. By providing an allowance, government may help teachers to be able to improve the state of education in these areas. A greater focus on STEM education is also essential for South Africa to improve in the fields of science, maths and technology.
Upgrading infrastructure.
Government need to improve the infrastructure of many institutions nationwide.
Setting 50% as the minimum pass mark for matric.
Dr Ramphele has suggested that a pass mark of 30% is too low and won’t do South Africans any good in the long run.
By providing better technology in schools, the education system will improve drastically.
Introducing a focus on producing learners who can read, write and count early in the schooling system can eventually lead to an improved literacy rate and also better matric results in the long run.
By introducing adult education programs, libraries and career guidance programs in South African townships and rural areas, this could foster a culture of reading, which could lead to an improvement in the South African education system.