Page 16 - Education Feature Issue 2 2021

EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

When learners fall behind, they start to feel a disconnection from schooling.

espite South Africa’s large investment in basic OUR CHALLENGE
education, around 40% of learners starting school at
DGrade 1 level will exit the schooling system before We need to change the perception that dropping out of school is a normal
finishing matric. Many will remain stuck in poverty and occurrence by demonstrating that it’s possible to stop it from happening.
unemployment for life. Statistically, young people are 8% more
likely to find employment if they have a matric certificate. The first step towards addressing the school dropout problem is to prioritise
it as a national problem both at the decision-making level and at a societal
The Zero Dropout Campaign’s goal is to halve South Africa’s level. The fact that many children leave school without any qualification is not
dropout rate by 2030 by spurring individual and collective yet firmly acknowledged by all levels of government to be a problem. As a
ownership of the problem. We began as a research consequence, there are no specific systems or policies in place to address it.
project funded by the DG Murray Trust in 2015, but we’ve
since grown into a national advocacy campaign with two However, policy changes alone are not enough; we also need to facilitate
dedicated programmes of action and a national network of national ownership of the problem by giving parents, educators and learners
implementing partners. the tools they need to implement solutions.

As a knowledge hub, we have collaborated with a number of READING FOR MEANING
non-profit organisations (NPOs) to test models of intervention
to discourage children from dropping out of school. In this Reading for Meaning is an accelerated catch-up programme for learners using
way, we are focused on identifying and demonstrating what Pratham’s principle of Teaching at the Right Level. This approach focuses on
it takes to help learners complete Grade 12 by developing a child’s learning needs rather than their age or what grade they’re in. It is a
policy options at a macro level as well as on-the-ground strategic programme within the Zero Dropout Campaign because it aims to help
interventions. learners who are struggling to keep up with their peers. We have developed
an array of reading resources, audiobooks and activities for children as well as
We have taken a proactive approach to addressing the simple guidelines for parents and education practitioners to follow.
dropout problem by promoting interventions with a track Continued on page 16
record of success. A prime example is our ‘Reading for
Meaning’ programme, which focuses on a child’s learning
needs rather than their age or grade. In an effort to drive a
whole-of-society approach to reducing the rate of dropping
out, our outreach teams are also mobilising a network of
educators, parents and learners to work together to find
solutions to the everyday issues driving the dropout rate.

Education | August 2021 | 14