A damning indictment of the low standard of education in Indian free for all public schools (free tuition, textbooks and even meals) is in the percentage of schoolchildren (40%) who attend private schools. In a TED.com talk Seema Bansal compares this with the number of children attending private schools in the USA (10%).
In a South African Department of Education survey, released in 2015, the situation in South Africa was as follows: In 2013, there were 30 027 established public and registered independent education institutions that submitted the survey forms. Of these, 25 720 were ordinary schools and 4 307 were other education institutions – namely, Early childhood development (ECD) centres and special schools.
The figure of 25 720 for ordinary schools comprised the following:
- 14 558 primary schools, with 6 384 092 learners and 197 258 educators;
- 6 098 secondary schools, with 3 895 909 learners and 143 862 educators; and
- 5 064 combined and intermediate schools, with 2 209 647 learners and 83 903 educators.
In South Africa in 2013, there were 12 883 888 learners and students in the basic education system, who attended 30 027 education institutions and were served by 447 149 educators.
93% of these 12 883 888 learners attended ordinary public schools.
One would then assume that 7% of our children attend private schools but, the numbers are skewed as not all public schools are no fee schools and many of our public schools are prohibitively expensive for the ordinary citizen.
In her idea worth sharing Seema Bansal tells how she forged a path to public education reform for 15,000 schools in Haryana, India, by setting an ambitious goal: by 2020, 80 percent of children should have grade-level knowledge. She’s looking to meet this goal by seeking reforms that will work in every school without additional resources. Bansal and her team have found success using creative, straightforward techniques such as communicating with teachers using SMS group chats, and they have already measurably improved learning and engagement in Haryana’s schools.
Come and listen to ideas worth sharing at TEDxPortElizabeth on 1 July 2016.
Alan Straton
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