More than two decades into democracy, South Africa remains a society divided. Despite its final
dismantlement in 1994, the enduring remnants of apartheid are inescapably evident within the
education system, where fault lines that are drawn by race, socio-economic class and geographical
location continue to contribute to inequities in school quality and consequently, educational
performance and attainment. Under the apartheid regime, the government allowed for separate
and racially defined education departments,1
each providing quite divergent types and qualities of
education. Besides tangible deficits in resources,2
schooling under the Bantu education system3
also
sought to indoctrinate conformity, rote learning and authoritarian management styles.
Despite concerted efforts to equalize expenditures per learner within the public education
sector since 1994, the highly divided and unequal schooling system that was inherited from the
apartheid regime has meant that many of the former black African schools that were entirely
dysfunctional under apartheid remain dysfunctional today (Spaull, 2013). This is evidenced by high
rates of dropout and grade repetition, underperformance and gross levels of teacher absenteeism
amongst the poorer parts of the South African schooling system (Taylor, Muller & Vinjevold, 2003).