Redressing School Inequalities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Education is a critical element in post-apartheid restructuring. In 1994 the ANC-led government inherited a racially divided and discriminatory education system to which the National Party had, in its early 1990s reforms, added elements of a market-driven system. National policies since 1994 have been rich in the political symbolism of equity and redress, but in practice were characterised by acceptance of commodification and choice and very limited implementation of change on the ground. This article explores these themes using fieldwork carried out in the Eastern Cape. Provincial information is based on documentation and data supplied by the Provincial Education Department and the Examinations Centre, supplemented by interviews. Detailed research was carried out in and around Grahamstown, visiting fifteen schools ranging from exclusive private schools to those in townships, informal settlements and rural areas. Desegregation and redistribution are explored in relation to parental incomes, fees and school feeder areas; parental choice of schools and involvement in governing bodies; learner:teacher ratios and teacher redeployment; resource constraints, buildings and facilities, books and materials; relationships between schools and provincial authorities; examination results; and relations between resource-rich and resource-poor schools. Provincial funding levels cover little beyond the salaries of approved numbers of teachers, leaving most other expenditure dependent on fee income and funds raised by other means. Class rather than race is now the main determinant of educational opportunity. For the poor majority, the system offers neither equality of opportunity nor significant redress to compensate for the injustices of apartheid education. Some directions for changing policy and practice are suggested.