Zuma government’s education quality shocker

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently published its “Global Information Technology Report 2014”, which ranks South Africa’s mathematics and science education quality as the worst in the world.

The report further ranked South Africa’s general education quality at number 146 out of 148 countries.

The World Economic Forum’s annual “Executive Opinion Survey” is used to establish how well a country’s education system is performing.

In this survey the opinions of business leaders are gathered on a variety of topics, including the quality of a country’s education system.

Business leaders were asked:

• In your country, how would you assess the quality of math and science education in schools?
• How well does the educational system in your country meet the needs of a competitive economy?

In South Africa, 45 business leaders were interviewed in 2012, and 47 in 2013. The results from these questions tell a story of lost trust in the country’s education system.

Zuma government’s poor performance

Using the Executive Opinion Survey results, the Global Information Technology Reports show that the perceived quality of South Africa’s educational system has been declining over the last five years.

The reports showed that the SA education quality score dropped from 2.8 to 2.1 over the last five years.

The reports further showed that South Africa’s educational quality score is getting closer and closer to the worst in the world.

In 2009, South Africa was 24 places from the bottom. The 2014 report shows that we are now only 2 places away from the worst country.

Department of basic education rejects report

The department of basic education rejected a World Economic Forum report about the state of the country’s maths and science education.

“The report is not a credible or accurate reflection of the state of education in South Africa,” the department said.

“[We] reject this finding as it is based purely on the opinions or perceptions of selected executives,” the department said.

More on SA education

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Poor education hurting SA’s Internet industry: Naspers CEO

SA’s shocking ICT skills ranking