CHILD WORKERS AND SCHOOLING
2.0 INTRODUCTION
2.1.5 Educoltional Systems
Education Internationally
Bonnet (1993) argues that the failure of the educational system in Africa had led many parents to view work as the preferred option for their children. This is a situation where survival is a priority and the educational method does not offer the best prospects for the future. As one African commentator puts it: "Education broadens your mind but it does not teach you how to survive" (Agiobu-Kemmer, 1992:9). Childhood employment perpetuates the cycle of poverty into which so many are born, but poorly educated parents may not see the eventual benefit of education as compared with the immediate advantage of income from child work.
Keeping children in school is difficult, especially in circumstances where education may cost the family dearly and is of poor quality with overcrowded classrooms and a lack of books and learning material. School seems forbidding, alienating, and unconnected with the realities of some children's lives. School fees may require one single lump-sum payment, often unaffordable for the family when added to other expenses like school-wear (uniforms). Interviews, during Blanc's (1994) study, with families from countries such as Kenya, India, and Brazil, indicated that parents are aware that schooling is valuable, whilst parents of working children in Brazil placed education second only to health on their list of concerns for children.
The Philippines has free public education up to Grade 6, but only 60% of children complete primary school. Parents have difficulty meeting the costs, (for example of food and transportation), of sending their children to school (Cartwright &
Patrinos, 1999). In Ghana, on the contrary, a learner who does not pay school fees is excluded from school. Some children see school in a negative light, perhaps because of violence against them at school (Boyden, 1995; Myers, 1989).
Generally though, in many schools children have to sit in one position for long periods of time. They are subjected to mental abuse especially where corporal punishment is also administered. The educational situation in Africa leaves much
to be desired. This continent experienced high population growth, which resulted in a failure to provide adequate educational facilities. These educational failures have far-reaching implications created by a high number of repeaters. Children who have failed previous academic years occupy some of the scarce places in school. In some countries, up to 30% of learners are repeaters. Figure 5 shows how serious the failure rate is in the primary schools of selected African countries:
Figure 5. Repeater Rates in Primary Schools in Selected African Countries Source: UNDP (1997: 156-159) Primary pupil-teacher ratio
Botswana Ethio ia Lesotho Malawi Mozambique Tanzania
Sub-Saharan Africa
5 9 22 21 27 5 17
It is also important to remember that it is not only the number of children that present challenges. In some countries half of all children between the ages of 6 and 11 do not attend school. In such countries, the parent's main priority is first to feed their children. They simply do not regard education as their first priority (De
Beer & Swanepoel, 2000). There are few teachers who, understandably, are not
properly motivated. Poor salaries, coupled with a lack of resources and motivation, result in teachers voting with their feet. In 1993 in Sudan, teachers were paid less than R500 a year (De Beer & Swanepoel, 2000). This has led to high absenteeism rates as teachers have to supplement their meagre salaries with second part time jobs. The teacher-pupil ratio is also demotivating as teachers have to teach in classrooms filled beyond capacity. Figure 6 shows how high the pupil teacher ratio is in Africa.
Figure 6.Pupil-Teacher Ratio at Primary Level ofSelected African Countries Source: UNDP (1994: 156-159)
Botswana Ethiopia Kenya Lesotho Malawi Mozambique Nigeria Tanzania
Zimbabwe Sub-Saharan Africa
~upil-teacher.ratio.(1990)"
32 30 31 55 64 55 39 35 36 40
This ratio is a recipe for failing to identify learners with learning problems, to set written homework because it would entail too much marking, as well as to maintain discipline. Problems such as these contribute to a lowering in the standard of education for poor children in particular.
Education in South Africa
Schooling in South Africa has many positive changes. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has promoted education as an antidote to poverty and conflict. The government spends 8% of its national gross domestic product on education (Maharaj, 2004). This is a higher percentage than the United States or Britain and it is recognised as having the best school system on the continent (Maharaj, 2004). However, teacher failure is destroying the educational system of the country. Teacher failure is the result of lack of monetary incentives, managerial skills, inadequate teaching, and general inability on the part of government to ensure that teachers adhere to the conditions of their employment.
A remuneration structure that is inadequate and highly ignorant of the basic principles of supply and demand has seen many talented and highly educated teachers leave the profession. Their exit was exacerbated by lucrative packages through right-sizing. In fact, right-sizing was aimed at redistributing teachers from privileged to under privileged schools, inter alia, by forcing all schools to achieve certain pupil-teacher ratios. The negative effects of right-sizing, together with the
Increase In salaries of black and white female teachers, aggravated the tight budgetary constrains under which the profession operates. This resulted in the inability to provide under-resourced schools with the necessary capital equipment (Black& Hosking, 1997).
Another disturbing phenomenon in South Africa is that of "shirking". The South African Institute of Race Relation (SAIRR, 1996) reported that as many as 100 of about 195 teaching days are lost in practice due to the high absenteeism among pupils, teachers and principals. According to Black and Hosking (1997), although shirking occurs at all levels across the whole spectrum of schools, it is particularly wide-spread among black schools where facilities are absent or not maintained, and supervision and control are wholly inadequate. Shirking is the result of a lack of motivation caused by low wages, unpleasant working conditions, and inadequate monitoring on the part of school principals.
Research conducted in 2003 and 2004 (Peacock, 2004) by pnmary school educators in some township and rural schools in KwaZulu-Natal reveal that an average of 48-51% of available teaching time is regularly "lost" to children because their teachers are simply not in the classroom when they are scheduled to be there. In ex-model C schoolsl3 , teachers were in the classroom 100% of the time of the school day. Vast numbers of the most needy primary school children are still currently receiving an education that is massively impoverished, both in terms of quality and quantity (Peacock, 2004).
There is also the issue of "surplus" teachers or temporary substitution, especially in Mathematics, Biology, Science and English. This issue is impacting negatively on the educational system. Many schools fill vacancies with under-qualified teachers from other schools. This results in teachers working less productively then they are capable of doing. To complicate educational matters in this country,
13 These are schools that were set up for white South African children only, as there were schools for other races too. This was part of the apartheid government's segregationist policies.
the pupil-teacher ratio is high. In 1992 the pupil-teacher ratio at primary school level was 25: 1 and at secondary 26: 1 (UNDP, 1997). Despite these circumstances, South Africa is far better off than its African sisters. The retrenchment of thousands of teachers has enabled the state to cut down on the salary component of the education budget and increase funding for other educational items. In the meantime, various factors cause uncertainty, which lowers the morale of teachers.
The timing and the nature of the process of retrenchment and implementation of the new outcomes based syllabus, known as Curriculum 2005, is a classical example.
The South African educational system neglects career-oriented teaching and over-emphasizes the social academic value system. For a long time schools have not focused on preparing children for jobs. Schools, parents, and communities have concentrated on providing paper qualifications rather than useful skills (Lindhard& Dlamini, 1990). Our school curriculum does not produce people with business management or technical skills. According to Cronj e (1996), entrepreneurship should be a vital part of the curriculum and the opportunity should not be lost to nurture potential entrepreneurs in school. Children from indigenous groups may have difficulty getting formal sector employment and have little choice but to work in home production. Some evidence of this hypothesis is provided by Pradhan and Van Soest (1995). Youth households with a low income were less likely to be absorbed in the formal sector. One possible explanation is that they may have lived in areas with less economic opportunities, which renders them less competitive in the open labor market as they have to utilise the unreliable transport system of their area to get to the work place.
(National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997). This is the group which can be easily absorbed by the informal sector (Grootaert et ai, in Patrinos, 1998). In South Africa, for most Africans, job options lie in the informal sector economy (Newson, 1996). This is borne out by the survey which concludes that whites are more likely to get a job than blacks in the new South Africa. This is attributable to better educational facilities to which learners are exposed (HSRC, 2005).
The situation for South African children appears to be worsening, as evidenced by increasing rates and the depth of child poverty. With the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic being felt at every level of society, children are experiencing even greater hardships than before (Griese, Meintjies, Croke& Chamberlain, 2003).
2.2 TYPES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND REMUNERATION