Sue Blaine
11 February 2005
Johannesburg — THE long walk to school for most poor children in rural areas is often not a long walk to freedom from poverty, says the Nelson Mandela Foundation. "For many, education cannot compensate for much deeper economic and social inequalities - it is not a ladder out of poverty, it simply confirms one's status in life," say the authors of a Human Sciences Research Council report commissioned by the foundation and released this week.
The report, called Emerging Voices: A report on education in South African rural communities, contains the results of a survey of 4305 people in 595 households and 144 primary schools in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
In these provinces poverty is rife - more than 90% of people earn less than R6400 a year. The unemployment rates are higher than SA's average of 41,2% for expanded unemployment - 54,6% in Eastern Cape, and 49% in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
The researchers say education under these conditions is not a panacea. "Even those with good matric passes are unlikely to find employment if they remain in the villages. Each village has a large group of young people with a sense of having nowhere to go and nothing to do. Their presence preys on the minds of the youth still at school."
Just getting to matric is a feat beyond many - there is a 40% drop-out rate at schools in the three provinces.
Getting to school is a battle for many, whose days start with chores that help to raise the funds to put food on the table. Rural topography and lack of basic services also make schools hard to reach.
A child's chance of finishing school can be crushed by long distances walked on rough roads. Many families cannot afford school shoes. Children walking to school are at risk of being involved in road accidents and being set upon by criminals. Even at school, children - especially girls - are not necessarily safe.
"There is widespread evidence of sexual harassment and frequent beatings and bullying... . Many learners drop out of school because of poor educational experiences and discouragement from their teachers," the researchers say.
Absenteeism is linked to pregnancy, poverty and unemployment. The researchers say falling pregnant can be a "positive and rational" decision for poor rural girls as government's child-support grant supplements family income.
School fees, as low as R50 a year, are beyond the means of many parents. Legislation requires that parents who earn less than 10 times a school's annual fee be exempted from paying, but only 12% of rural parents say they know about this.
"More significant is the irrelevance of the exemption policy in these areas. To qualify for exemption, parents have to provide evidence of income, but where income is barely able to meet basic needs, such a request is hard to fulfil."
Many schools illegally take punitive steps against pupils whose parents or guardians are unable to pay school fees.
The children take the school's complaint home to parents, who feel attacked and disrespected. "School fees can make children of very poor families feel welcome neither at school nor at home," the researchers warn.
Added to all these hurdles is hunger. According to the report, 14% of children canvassed go to school after a cup of tea, or nothing, for breakfast. This figure rises to 22% in Limpopo. Children at rural schools show signs of starvation such as illnesses, skin diseases and bleeding.
"You want the children to write and they bleed in some parts such that it is difficult to touch a pen," says a teacher interviewed for the report.
The education department's efforts to provide school feeding programmes are hampered by poor management, with meals being served irregularly, especially in Eastern Cape.
Poor children in rural areas have a greater chance of being taught by poorly educated teachers at poorly resourced schools. For most rural teachers, teaching was not a first-choice career, but one motivated by family history, a lack of alternatives, poor career guidance and the availability of teacher training colleges.
Conditions at the schools in which they teach and their earning capacity mean they prefer not to live where they teach, with 36km the average distance a rural teacher lives from work.
Typically their children do not attend rural schools.
This lack of vocation and commitment to the school and surrounding community contributes to a high rate of absenteeism.
The researchers say that, on average, 13% of the women and 8% of the men teachers were absent on the day the research team visited schools.
While teacher absenteeism is a major concern for parents, teachers point fingers at parents for their lack of involvement in their children's schooling.
This is in part relates to parents' high levels of illiteracy and poor levels of schooling. In Limpopo, 31% of parents or guardians are illiterate, 30% in Eastern Cape and 41% in KwaZulu-Natal.
"The findings point to a singular conclusion: the great majority of children in rural poor communities receive less than is their right in a democratic SA.
"Worse still is the fact that this will have long-term effects on their opportunities for development, their capabilities and their lives," the report says.
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