A third of SA’s children do not finish school, DGMT survey finds
Pregnancy and academic challenges are the main reasons learners drop out, says DG Murray Trust’s Zero Dropout Campaign
21 January 2025 - 12:25
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Pupils pray at the start of their first day at school during assembly. Picture: SUNDAY TIMES/ESA ALEXANDER
A third of SA’s children do not finish school, with pregnancy and academic challenges the main reasons for dropping out, according to research released by the DG Murray Trust’s Zero Dropout Campaign on Tuesday.
SA has one of the world’s highest unemployment rates, with young people aged between 15 and 24 accounting for almost two-thirds of those without jobs. Previous studies have shown that finishing school not only increases the likelihood of employment, but also reduces crime and risky behaviour.
While SA’s matric results have steadily improved in the past 30 years, there was a concerning regression in the education system’s throughput rate, which dropped from 66% in 2023 to 63% in 2024, said Zero Dropout Campaign communications lead Colin Wardle. This suggested teachers and principals were “gatekeeping” students and preventing them from writing matric exams to bolster school pass rates, he said, emphasising holding pupils back increased the likelihood that they would drop out.
The Zero Dropout Campaign survey included 1,247 people from 50 districts across SA. It targeted households with school-going children, but also included those where children had finished school or with children who were not yet of school-going age. Respondents were asked for the reasons children in their households or others they knew had dropped out, as well as their broader perceptions of why others might do so. The survey also included 128 children who had dropped out of school.
The top reason participants gave for dropping out of school was pregnancy (14%), followed by failure to cope academically (13%), bullying (11%), financial troubles (9%) and drug abuse (9%). The influence of financial strain, drugs and criminal behaviour was probably underreported, said the Zero Dropout Campaign .
The high proportion of learners who said they had dropped out of school due to pregnancy indicated they were not getting adequate support, ranging from childcare to additional resources to catch up on learning losses, said Wardle. Teen mothers also confronted stigma and bullying at schools. “Girls need better catch-up programmes, schools need more comprehensive sexual education, and there needs to be a societal shift in attitude [towards learners who are pregnant or are parents],” he said.
When it came to perception, 41% of household respondents said they believed pregnancy was the main reason pupils dropped out of school, followed by drug abuse (24%) financial difficulties (11%), peer pressure (8%) and gangsterism (7%).
One in 10 participants said children in their household had dropped out or were planning to do so.
The Zero Dropout Campaign urged the basic education department to implement a system for tracking learners through the education system, accelerate catch-up programmes for learners who had been pregnant and were now young parents, and institute an early warning system to flag children at high risk of dropping out of school.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
A third of SA’s children do not finish school, DGMT survey finds
Pregnancy and academic challenges are the main reasons learners drop out, says DG Murray Trust’s Zero Dropout Campaign
A third of SA’s children do not finish school, with pregnancy and academic challenges the main reasons for dropping out, according to research released by the DG Murray Trust’s Zero Dropout Campaign on Tuesday.
SA has one of the world’s highest unemployment rates, with young people aged between 15 and 24 accounting for almost two-thirds of those without jobs. Previous studies have shown that finishing school not only increases the likelihood of employment, but also reduces crime and risky behaviour.
While SA’s matric results have steadily improved in the past 30 years, there was a concerning regression in the education system’s throughput rate, which dropped from 66% in 2023 to 63% in 2024, said Zero Dropout Campaign communications lead Colin Wardle. This suggested teachers and principals were “gatekeeping” students and preventing them from writing matric exams to bolster school pass rates, he said, emphasising holding pupils back increased the likelihood that they would drop out.
The Zero Dropout Campaign survey included 1,247 people from 50 districts across SA. It targeted households with school-going children, but also included those where children had finished school or with children who were not yet of school-going age. Respondents were asked for the reasons children in their households or others they knew had dropped out, as well as their broader perceptions of why others might do so. The survey also included 128 children who had dropped out of school.
The top reason participants gave for dropping out of school was pregnancy (14%), followed by failure to cope academically (13%), bullying (11%), financial troubles (9%) and drug abuse (9%). The influence of financial strain, drugs and criminal behaviour was probably underreported, said the Zero Dropout Campaign .
The high proportion of learners who said they had dropped out of school due to pregnancy indicated they were not getting adequate support, ranging from childcare to additional resources to catch up on learning losses, said Wardle. Teen mothers also confronted stigma and bullying at schools. “Girls need better catch-up programmes, schools need more comprehensive sexual education, and there needs to be a societal shift in attitude [towards learners who are pregnant or are parents],” he said.
When it came to perception, 41% of household respondents said they believed pregnancy was the main reason pupils dropped out of school, followed by drug abuse (24%) financial difficulties (11%), peer pressure (8%) and gangsterism (7%).
One in 10 participants said children in their household had dropped out or were planning to do so.
The Zero Dropout Campaign urged the basic education department to implement a system for tracking learners through the education system, accelerate catch-up programmes for learners who had been pregnant and were now young parents, and institute an early warning system to flag children at high risk of dropping out of school.
kahnt@businesslive.co.za
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