High Gross Enrolment Rates in basic education suggest that South Africa is close to
achieving universal primary access, a key Millennium Development Goal. But numbers
begin to drop quite dramatically in secondary school and achievement levels are alarming
low so that learners are moving through the grades but without necessarily attaining the
learning outcomes prescribed by curriculum. The routine of school seems established but
with learners increasingly being left behind academically and more and more vulnerable
to repetition and dropping-out.
This paper reviews literature and statistics to present a picture of current access patterns
in South Africa and attempts to explain those patterns. It identifies the socio-economic
factors in communities and schools that add stress on vulnerable learners, eventually (and
inevitably) leading to their exclusion from school. Further, we argue for greater
attention to be paid at points of entry and repetition