image caption There are an estimated 12 million children in school in South Africa South African education system is grossly inefficient, severely underperforming and egregiously unfair. The right to primary education frames many international statements on human rights and education. The percentage climbed to 92.5 in 2009 and soared to … Itumeleng Letsoalo is a Global Citizen Fellow and content writer in South Africa. Here are the facts: 15% of South Africa’s total budget was spent on basic education in the last 12 months that ended March 2016. COMMENT South Africa is a land of hope, opportunity and most glaringly, a land of stark inequality. Here, she explains why South Africa’s decision to expand its sex education programme is empowering for young people — especially girls — and why she finds the backlash against the decision so frustrating. Stats SA approximated that 91.5 percent of poor persons in South Africa were blacks in 2006. On … These conditions will only continue to exacerbate the education and learning gaps between rural and urban African schoolchildren. That is about R213.7bn. A lack of skills, monitoring and accountability have led to poor policy implementation, inferior training of teachers and bureaucrats, and a system many people have lost hope in. Yet compared with countries that are adjacent to South Africa, the GDP per capita of South Africa is higher. Read also: Here’s how CEOs and school principals can fix SA education On the left is Bloubusrand in Johannesburg, a middle class area with larger houses and pools. There are a lot of people who will say that South Africa is poor because of the history of racial segregation that existed prior to 1994. In the South African context, teacher standards are a response to a lack of teacher accountability. Arguably the failures in South Africa’s education system reflect the problems that have beset governance in the country more generally since 1994. And in turn, poor quality education … Leafy suburbs like Sandton boast world-class institutions with top-of-art facilities, whilst neighbouring Alexandra township schools are often victims of violence, poor infrastructure and a lack of […] The state of education in South Africa is of nationwide concern — and so it should be. In South Africa, the divide between rich and poor is visible from the sky. This has been identified as a cause of the poor quality of South African education. South Africa’s performance on local and international studies of educational achievement South Africa currently participates in a number of local and international tests of educational achievement. That is about R213.7bn. This inequality could not be more prevalent than in our education system. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of children enrolled in state schools in South Africa grew from 11.6 million to 12.3 million - an increase of 6%. In fact, South Africa spends more on education, some 6% of GDP, than any other African country.