EDUCATION
GAVIN KEETON: Second-chance schools are a gateway to skills
'Appropriate, targeted interventions can improve pupil and school performance drastically, even if the education system itself is functioning poorly'
The South African economy grew just 0.3% in 2016. The IMF suggests growth in 2017 will be only 0.8%, rising to 1.6% in 2018. Slow growth has severe consequences. Unemployment rises, living standards decline. Tax revenue grows very slowly, limiting the government’s ability to assist those most affected by economic stagnation. Few would dispute that education is critical for achieving sustainable rapid growth. Stanford University’s Eric Hanushek recently went so far as to suggest that "the only thing that matters for a country is the skills of its people". He notes that "countries that have lots of skills grow faster than countries that have low skills" and that countries where skills are very low "are just not growing in the long run". The education received by most South Africans is very poor indeed. This is evidenced by SA’s weak performance in international benchmark tests, continued poor matric results, and the reality that many of its children never even make it as far as matric...
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