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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Redressing School Inequalities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
Author:Lemon, AnthonyISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:30
Issue:2
Period:June
Pages:269-290
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:educational policy
schooling
educational financing
schools
Education and Oral Traditions
Politics and Government
Economics and Trade
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/4133836
Abstract:In 1994 the ANC-led government of South Africa inherited a racially divided and discriminatory education system to which the National Party had, in its early 1990s reforms, added elements of a market-driven system. National policies since 1994 have been rich in the political symbolism of equity and redress, but in practice have been characterized by acceptance of commodification and choice and very limited implementation of change on the ground. This article explores these themes using fieldwork carried out in 2000 in the Eastern Cape, in and around Grahamstown. Desegregation and redistribution are explored in relation to parental incomes, fees and school feeder areas; parental choice of schools and involvement in governing bodies; learner:teacher ratios and teacher redeployment; resource constraints, buildings and facilities, books and materials; relationships between schools and provincial authorities; examination results; and relations between resource-rich and resource-poor schools. Provincial funding levels cover little beyond the salaries of approved numbers of teachers, leaving most other expenditure dependent on fee income and funds raised by other means. Class rather than race is now the main determinant of educational opportunity. For the poor majority, the system offers neither equality of opportunity nor significant redress to compensate for the injustices of apartheid education. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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