Development in South African Education from a Gender Perspective

This paper discusses current development in education in South Africa and proposes some ideas for international cooperation from pertaining to gender. The introduction of Bantu education in 1954 aimed at providing separate, unequal education for different races in South Africa. Bantu education prepared black African for subservient roles while education for the whites prepared them for leadership positions. As a result, there have been significant inequalities in education including school enrollment, performance and resources. From a gender perspective, although few gaps can be identified in the statistics of primary and secondary schooling expect for results on matrix examination, some critical obstacles to girls' education can be seen. On the one hand, girls are expected to do a great many of reluctant to go to school due to the shortage of proper sanitation for girls. Furthermore, in some schools, girls are not safe from sexual violence such as rape, sexual abuse and harassment in schools as well as in their communities. Since the end of apartheid, the new government has integrated educational department into a single system and has developed education reform based on the White Paper on Education and Training. Since 1997 the Ministry of Education has implemented outcomes-based education in the Curriculum 2005, which marks a major shift away from the past curricula. However, the Curriculum 2005 does not adequately address the perspective of gender. Rather, the Gender Equity Task TERM has analyzed gender inequalities in education and has proposed recommendations for reform. The Gender Equity Unit, which was established in the Ministry of Education, has worked to promote gender equity. The Japanese Official Development Assistance could contribute much more to math and science education in South Africa by being more sensitive to gender issues