INVESTING IN EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

INVESTING IN EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Education can be described as the process where an individual acquires or imparts knowledge to another. All children, around the world have the right to an education. Investing in education is not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.

Unfortunately, in South Africa, education still remains a privilege to many. A school education should provide a place where individuals develop skills essential to daily living, where individuals learn social norms, develop judgement and reasoning and learn how to discern right from wrong.

There are various types of education, traditional schooling dictates the way a person’s educational success is measured. Individuals who attend school and have attained a higher level of education are considered more employable and likely to earn more.

According to the Centre for Global Development, in developing countries, there is a projected 10 per cent increase in a person’s future income for every additional year of education.

Broken and Unequal: The State of Education in South Africa

The right to quality education includes having a school where learners are safe to learn and have the adequate infrastructure and facilities to do so, but research carried out by Amnesty International revealed that this is not the reality for many learners in South Africa.

According to Amnesty International, South Africa’s educational system is characterised by a crumbling infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms and relatively poor education outcomes. Unfortunately, this unsatisfactory system is perpetuating inequality and as a result failing too many of its children, with the poor hardest hit according to a new Report.

The EMS Foundation recognises the fact that there are many talented young people who can achieve world-class results if given the correct opportunities. The foundation has discovered that there are schools in the regions in South Africa where the organisation is actively working are offering quality education, these deserving institutions are receiving our support.

The EMS Foundation Investment into Education in Sandbaai in Hermanus, Western Cape of South Africa

An example of a very successful school is the Hermanus Waldorf School, which is situated in Sandbaai in Hermanus in the Western Cape of South Africa. The majority of the pupils who attend this school come from the previously disadvantaged communities of Zwelihle and Mount Pleasant.

Traditionally this school offered only a junior school education. The EMS Foundation has donated the costs of building three classrooms and ablution facilities so that the school can extend the opportunity to their learners in order to offer a high school education to their pupils from 2023.