Abstracts

91 during apartheid. This paper established two principles for the new system. The first indicates that education and basic training are human rights and that the state has an obligation to protect these rights regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic class, age, and location. The second principle states that “Parents have an inalienable right to choose the form of education which is best for their children…. The parents’ right to choose includes choice of the language, cultural or religious basis of the child’s education, with due regard for the rights of others and the rights of choice of the growing child” (p. 16). This DOE paper outlined the choices parents were now open to explore on behalf of their children’s education, including the language of instruction. While the government policies addressed in this paper sought to break down systemic racism in the educational system, in postapartheid South Africa, race has been replaced by wealth and status as the most significant grounds for inequality. Spaull’s report (2013a), Poverty & Priv- ilege: Primary School Inequality in South Africa , explains how school wealth strongly cor- relates with literacy, reading and math scores, school infrastructure and resources, class size, teacher attendance, language familiarity, and much more. The most vulnerable population is, unfortunately, still poor black South Africans. Apartheid may have ended; however, damaging spatial segregation policies persist. Much of the black population is still constrained to live within the townships their ancestors were forced into during apartheid, leaving substantial geographical, socioeconomic, and, as a result, educational, distance between black communities and previously white-only wealthy residential areas. Today, those expensive residential areas are no longer white-only as wealthy black, colored, and Indian families have moved in. However, the historically black townships remain predominantly black and continue to be excluded from the privileged education system the wealthier districts enjoy. The geographical separation of poor blacks from wealthy neighborhoods and the steady increase in higher school fees have resulted in a growing inequality that continues to divide the haves and have-nots of South Africa (Yamauchi, 2011). Unless resolved, the perpetuated inequality within the education systemwill have detrimental effects not only on South Africa’s future human capital and labor force but also on the society as a whole, with increased levels of poverty and crime. The ramifications of an unequal education system are far reaching and go well beyond the classroom or the school. According to the World Bank report, Overcoming Poverty and Inequality in South Africa (Sulla & Zikhali, 2018), the poor educational infrastructure of South African public schools has created an unskilled labor market, thereby contributing to high levels of unemployment and poverty. If poor students continue to receive an insufficient education, their life will be limited to a cycle of poverty and unemployment. While similar percentages may be typical throughout the developing world, South Africa is classified as an upper-middle-income country by the World Bank, which raises concerns about how the government responds to the prevalence of extreme poverty and inequality within the country (World Bank, 2019). It also is concerning, considering how South Africa’s education system compares to lower-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report , South Africa’s primary education system was rated 126th out of 138 countries in 2015–2016. It ranked lower than neighboring countries Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Swaziland (Schwab, 2016). It is evident that this level of educational quality is almost uniquely South African; as such, it requires a greater level of understanding in order to identify the root issues. Postapartheid policies were designed to reverse inequalities in earlier education spending. According to UNESCO, as of 2017, 18.73% of total government expenditures was allocated toward education, comprising 6.13% of GDP. To put this into context, the average share of the European Union GDP going toward education for the same period was 4.8% (UNESCO, 2017). It is apparent that despite a large increase in funding, the South African education system continues to significantly underperform, making it imperative to understand how and why that funding is not improving the quality of education.