SA learners perform poorly relative to local and regional standards

The paper tries to determine what factors may lie behind the relatively weak South African performance (compared to that of neighbours Namibia, Mozambique and Botswana). Four startling findings: Firstly, 27% of South African Grade 6 learners (12 years old) cannot read a short and simple text and extract meaning, i.e. they are functionally illiterate, while 40% of Grade 6 SA learners cannot translate graphical information into fractions or interpret everyday units of measurement, i.e. they are functionally innumerate. Secondly, South Africa has a higher proportion of functionally illiterate Grade 6 students than Mozambique, Namibia or Botswana, and a higher proportion of functionally innumerate learners than Botswana or Mozambique. Thirdly, fewer South African Grade 6 learners have access to their own textbook than Mozambican children, in spite of the fact that South Africa spends fifteen times as much per child ($1225) than Mozambique does ($79). Lastly, the average South African primary school teacher is absent 19.6 days per year, which is equal to 10% of total school days, and 67% of schools reported that they regularly have to deal with unjustified teacher absenteeism.