{"id":767406,"date":"2024-04-12T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=767406"},"modified":"2024-04-11T16:56:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T14:56:49","slug":"class-sizes-in-south-africa-public-vs-private-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/767406\/class-sizes-in-south-africa-public-vs-private-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Class sizes in South Africa – public vs private schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Class sizes in South Africa’s public schools show a major divergence between primary and secondary school levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Class size and teacher-to-student ratios are often highly spoken about topics in education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OECD states that smaller class sizes are often beneficial to students, as they allow teachers to spend more time on individual students while also reducing disruptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga responded in a parliamentary Q&A by providing the Learner Educator Ratio (LER) for primary and secondary schools in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data, which Motshekga admitted is self-reported, shows that the LER across South Africa is broadly declining in primary schools, except for Limpopo and North West. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The national average LER in primary schools declined from 35 in 2018<\/a> to 31 in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eastern Cape, which had the joint-highest LER in 2018 (38), is now the best in the country at 29 students per educator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the situation is getting worse in the nation’s high schools, with the LER increasing from 28 in 2018 to 30 in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides the Western Cape and Northern Cape, every province saw its secondary school LER get worse over the five-year period: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Province<\/strong><\/td>2018 LER PS<\/strong><\/td>2023 LER PS<\/strong><\/td>2018 LER SS<\/strong><\/td>2023 LER SS<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Eastern Cape<\/td>38<\/td>29<\/mark><\/td>31<\/td>33<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Free State<\/td>37<\/td>32<\/mark><\/td>26<\/td>30<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Gauteng<\/td>38<\/td>32<\/mark><\/td>27<\/td>29<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
KZN<\/td>33<\/td>30<\/mark><\/td>27<\/td>31<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Limpopo<\/td>35<\/td>35<\/td>26<\/td>31<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Mpumalanga<\/td>35<\/td>33<\/mark><\/td>27<\/td>30<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
North West <\/td>32<\/td>32<\/td>26<\/td>30<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Northern Cape<\/td>32<\/td>30<\/mark><\/td>25<\/td>25<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Western Cape<\/td>38<\/td>31<\/mark><\/td>33<\/td>29<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
National Average<\/td>35<\/strong><\/td>32<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>28<\/strong><\/td>30<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Private schools <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s private schools often use their smaller classrooms as a major selling point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools in the JSE-listed AdvTech<\/a>, such as Crawford International, are often limited to 25 students per class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curro<\/a>, which is also listed, limits its class sizes to a maximum of 25 to 35, depending on the type of school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These small classrooms are seen often a positive with parents, with AdvTech seeing over 93,000 enrolments for 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a>
Source: AdvTech<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Curro, on the other hand, added 1,307 more learners in 2023 compared to the prior year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These increased enrolments have also helped the group financially, with Curro seeing recurring headline earnings up 29% to R426 million in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AdvTech, on the other hand, said that its revenue grew 13% in 2023 to R7.8 billion, while headline earnings per share were up 19%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These schools also saw far better matric results for the period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curro and AdvTech’s pass rates of 99.15% and 99.7%, respectively, were far higher than the 82.9% achieved by students in public schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, when considering all of the students who started grade 1 in 2012, the ‘real’ pass rate for public schools is roughly 55%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Africa\u2019s \u2018real\u2019 matric pass rate is only 55%<\/a><\/blockquote>