Newspaper clipping – iol online – 24 November 2009

Survey highlights literacy levels in SA

Education levels among South African adults have significantly increased in the past 10 years, the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) said on Tuesday.
“Between 1997 and 2007 the number of adults who had completed Grade Eight increased from 14 093 000 to 19 026 000,” it said in a statement.

The proportion of adults who had completed Grade Eight increased from 61.4 percent in 1997 to 69 percent in 2007, according to the SAIRR’s South African survey published this week. The number of people who completed Grade 12 also increased.
“In 1997, 5 398 000 people had completed matric. In 2007, this number had increased by just over three million to 9 020 000,” said the SAIRR.
In 1997, the proportion of people with matric was 25.9 percent. In 2007, this was 32.7 percent.

The SAIRR said a similar trend emerged when looking at the number of the people who had completed higher education. In 1997, only 600 000 South Africans had completed some form of higher education. By 2007, this number had almost doubled to 1 050 000.

The number of people who had no schooling declined over the same period. In 1997, there were 3 196 000 South Africans with no schooling, but 2 542 000 in 2007.

Researcher Marius Roodt said the increase in the number of people with an education was an achievement of which the government could be proud.
“However, there is still a large proportion of the population who did not have any schooling,” he said.