EDUCATION POLICIES TO ENHANCE EDUCATION OF BLACKS IN SOUTH AFRICA

It was my first visit to this part of the world (July 22-August 12, 2022), thanks to the Marion-Jasper Whiting Foundation for a fellowship opportunity to improve and enhance the quality of my instruction and to enhance my knowledge in engaging historically marginalized Blacks in learning. South Africa has about 60 million people (2011 census) and three capital cities, Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town that respectively host the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government. It is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures and constitutionally recognizes 11 official languages as well as the SA sign language. About 81% of the population of SA are Black South Africans, 7.9% are of European, 2.6% are of Asian (Indian and Chinese), and 8.8% are multiracial (Colored South Africans) ancestry. During this short trip in Cape Town, I visited the University of Cape Town (UCT), public and private K12 schools, and multiple points of interest that included organic farms and the Robben Island that housed political prisoners during apartheid. I engaged diverse personalities to learn and gain insight of the education system and the extent to which Black students have been engaged to be successful. After three weeks in Cape Town, I left pondering about the education policies aimed at creating opportunities for the SA black students to be successful.

The current education system in SA is entrenched in the history of the country defined by policies like the 1960-1983 mass evictions that resulted in the removal of 3.5 million Non-White SA from their homes into segregated neighborhoods. These policies enhanced apartheid, the legal system of political, economic and social separation of the races intended to maintain and extend political and economic control of South Africa by the White minority. Blacks experienced a segregated system that excluded them from quality education just like Blacks in the USA during slavery. The lingering effects of slavery and apartheid on Blacks in the USA and SA, respectively, are still evident in the lives of Blacks in these countries with many identifying with an ancestry that is void of models who experienced quality education.

The eviction act and other policies during apartheid contributed to an education system defined by the country’s racial classification: Black, Colored, and White in increasing order of school quality and student performance. Schools for Black students were subject to discrimination through inadequate funding and a separate syllabus called Bantu Education, which only taught skills sufficient to work as laborers resulting in the low performance compared to the other racial groups. The medium of instruction through the Bantu education was Afrikaans, the language of the colonizer that challenged Black students to access education. Despite the promotion of race-blind policies after the demise of apartheid, most Blacks in SA still attend formerly African schools. South Africa is thus an interesting laboratory to examine the effects of government policies on educational outcomes for historically marginalized Blacks.

The government of SA has implemented policies to address the lingering effects of apartheid that affect the performance of Blacks in school. Policies like free education in the democratic state give every child a right to education. However, these policies do not consider contexts in the allocation of funds given some schools have access to quality instructional resources while others are struggling even with appropriate school infrastructure. Yet the education system uses the same measuring tools and standard of assessment at a matric level to determine the future of the learner and access to higher education. Students in SA must take and pass the National Senior Certificate examination at the end of grade 12 to pursue tertiary studies at a SA university. A no-fee school (known as quintile 1-3 schools, where quintile 1 means the poorest schools) policy in all public schools starting in 2007 focused mainly in formerly African schools in the poorest provinces of SA to enhance affordability of education for Black poor students. However, communities can impose school fees, which has resulted in former White public schools implementing school fees that prevent poor Black students from enrolling in their high quality schools. The no-fee school policy that focuses only on Black schools does not benefit poor Black students who continue to attend predominantly Black schools characterized by low quality of education compared to the White schools.

In an attempt to enhance the quality of education in Black schools, the local government in the Cape Town has contracted professional development for teachers to a Christian based NGO, the Common Good. Schools like the Silikamva (meaning ‘we are the future’) public high School in Imizamo Yethu (meaning ‘our place’) that I visited have seen scores in the grade 12-certificate exams increase from 40% to 85%, thanks to the Common Good collaboration. Some educators frown at the collaboration that mimics a business model because it focuses on students passing the certificate exams and fails to educate the whole student. I also learned that in some Black schools only students who are likely to perform well seat for the certificate exams, which skews the report on student performance.

Another government policy to support Blacks aligns with the recognition of the multiple indigenous languages. Each region in the country is required to teach students in the dominant local language until class four (fourth grade) where English is the compulsory medium of teaching. Students study one other language in addition to English. This policy does not affect students in White and Colored schools whose medium of instruction is English from K through 12. One of the challenges of this policy is lack of adequate instructional material for Black students in grades 1-3, which forces teachers to use mostly picture books. Furthermore, available textbooks for these students are translations of English texts that are not culturally relevant. Authors of books in the indigenous languages struggle to find publishers and bookstores that will publish their books. I attended a book launch by Black authors at UCT who confirmed this challenge in finding a publisher. The outcome of this well-intended policy on teaching grades 1-3 using the indigenous language is lack of fluency to read and write in the indigenous language and English. I interacted with educators who suggested that a feasible solution to the problem would be to institute a dual language system where students learn in both English and the indigenous language (bilingual system) to enhance fluency in the primary indigenous language and English. Although the government provides a general curriculum that everyone has to follow, the provinces have the ability to supplement the curriculum.

Despite policies to support Black students in SA, it is clear that the challenges are complex and embedded in the nexus of politico-socio-economic structure of the country that is entrenched in its apartheid history. Parents of Black children benefitting from policies that grant access to former White and Colored schools agree that their children are receiving better and quality education compared to that in the Black schools. One could thus assert that policies like school choice are contributing to high performance of Black students. However, only a few Blacks can afford these highly prized schools based on their socio-economic status or scholarship grants, which highlights the patterns of inequalities in education that has become a neoliberal commodity rather than equal access for everyone.

It was an exceptional experience, which revealed and confirmed the complexity of any education system and the challenges to engage historically marginalized students to be successful. I discern similarities and differences in the challenges in educating Blacks that are entrenched in the history of both the USA and SA thus confirming the essence of exploring policies and practices that can contribute to the success of Blacks in countries that are experiencing the lingering effects of segregation. This experience in SA has equipped me to participate in discussions on global challenges in closing achievement gaps for historically marginalized students, as well as become a global educator in preparing 21st century teachers. Given another opportunity, I will focus on the extent to which the SA education policies align with the UN sustainable development goal on quality education for all and specifically in supporting historically marginalized Black students to be successful in school.