Abstract
Blacks during the apartheid regime in South Africa were denied the most basic citizenship rights and overt racial discrimination was legal. Racial divisions were also enshrined by law in the education sector. Redressing historical imbalances and achieving equity are central policy components in attempts to restructure South African education. The government’s educational reforms since 1994 have focused on access, equity, and redress. This aspiration is demonstrated in many education policies, such as the postprovisioning norms, rationalization and redeployment of teachers and nonteaching staff, management of school fees, the functioning of governing bodies and the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF), and other pragmatic interventions. While inequalities in resource allocation from the state have been removed, inequalities persist for a number of reasons, including the inability of parents to pay fees, the unavailability of qualified teachers in some schools, and unfavorable learner–teacher ratios, especially in black schools and public schools in general. This chapter makes the argument that, despite substantial government subventions to the education system, social justice and equity have not been served adequately by the amended NNSSF because inequalities based on race, class, and gender persist in the education system.
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Notes
- 1.
Model C schools catered for mainly white learners during the apartheid regime.
- 2.
2South Africa comprises of nine provinces. Eastern Cape being one of the poorest provinces, is one of the nine provinces.
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Mestry, R. (2014). The State’s Responsibility to Fund Basic Education in Public Schools. In: Bogotch, I., Shields, C. (eds) International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Social (In)Justice. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 29. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6555-9_54
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