Education expert Professor Mary Metcalfe says the biggest challenge facing South Africa’s education system is inequality.
This statement comes as newly appointed Basic Education Minister and Democratic Alliance (DA) member Siviwe Gwarube is set to be sworn into office along with other cabinet ministers.
Gwarube’s appointment is part of the Government of National Unity (GNU) formed by the African National Congress (ANC) and 11 other parties after no party received an outright majority in last month’s elections.
Metcalfe says more will be achieved by the ministry if it addresses inequality.
“Those inequalities are across provinces and they are across school quintiles, and they manifest in the conditions of teaching and learning under which teachers have to do their best and under which learners are not succeeding as their potential suggests that they should.”
“It goes to class size, it goes to the availability of books, it goes to the infrastructure, and there are clear patterns of inequality that are related to the resources that are put into the system, and that’s clearly related to the outcomes that we get,” says Metcalfe.
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