Better Education Means Less Dropouts (Look at the Numbers!)

According to South Africa’s 2022 National Census, there are fewer school dropouts and more students completing secondary schooling compared to previous decades.

“Furthermore, persons aged 20 years and older with some primary education decreased from 16.6 percent in 1996 to 7.4 percent in 2022. Over the period, there has been a noteworthy increase in the number of persons completing secondary and post-secondary education,” says Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke.

The number of people aged 20 years and older with no formal education reduced from 19.1 per cent in 1996 to 6.9 per cent in 2022. South Africa is seeing the positive results of the concerted governmental policies put in place years ago to expand the education system, such as establishing more institutions, more attention to remote areas, and more significant funding. Now, experts encourage more work to be done to achieve equality in education in South Africa, as the census shows there is still some disparity in education opportunities between disadvantaged and poverty-stricken children and families, as well as racial and rural/urban divides.