- Title
- Factors contributing towards the decline in enrolment of learners in the rural Junior Secondary Schools in the Qumbu District of Education of South Africa
- Creator
- Vellem, Mxolosi
- Description
- The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors contributing towards the decline of learners in rural junior secondary schools in the Qumbu Education District in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This was done because in South Africa before the 1994 elections rural schools were not supported by the apartheid government. Rural areas were disadvantaged in education, in terms of finance. This resulted in poor quality of teaching and learning. Declining numbers of learners in rural schools was occurring in all rural schools. Staffs were alarmed by the declining enrolment of learners in their schools because their schools were affected. Teachers were redeployed to schools where there were sufficient learner numbers. Department of Education due to declining learner numbers in schools introduced rationalisation and re-alignment of schools, meaning closure of some schools with low learner numbers. This led to learners walking long distances to schools. This study was conducted in the Qumbu Education District. It focused on declining numbers of learner enrolment. The literature internationally focused on declining number in enrolment of learners. These learners were afraid of Physical Science (Chemistry side) as a subject. They had taken Chemistry as difficult because of the perceived link with Mathematics. Continentally the literature had alluded to teenage pregnancy, affected and infected learners with HIV/AIDS and human trafficking. In South Africa literature focused on the educational level of parents. Learners with educated parents leave rural schools to study in urban areas because of poor education which is provided in rural areas. Lack of resources in these schools could also be the cause of declining learner numbers in rural junior secondary schools. The study used a quantitative research design to elicit data from the respondents. The respondents in this study were 50 principals of the sampled rural junior secondary schools. Data was collected from 50 participants through the use of a questionnaire; 50 questionnaires were returned and the data which was finally processed was from these 50 questionnaires. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the analysis of the data. iii The findings of the study revealed that factors such as lack of parental involvement, socio-economic factors, HIV/AIDS - related issues, culture and gender - related issues, lack of resources, teacher and teaching - related issues and the education level of the parents were the contributing factors to the decline in enrolment of learners in rural junior secondary schools in the Qumbu Education District. In the light of the findings, the researcher recommends that more tuition time and the reduction of absenteeism by teachers can help reduce the decline of enrolment in rural junior schools in the Qumbu area. The Department must consider the number of learning areas and not teacher - pupil ratio. The Department should also introduce computer classes, woodwork, bricklaying and other practical skill subjects in these schools. Furthermore there must be resources such as laboratories, libraries and television. Some of the limitations encountered by the researcher during the study included the reluctance of the participants to take part in the research, the inaccessibility of schools in deep rural areas, the slow return rate of completed questionnaires and the obtaining of permission to undertake the study.
- Date
- 2015
- Subject
- Rural schools -- Learners -- South Africa School enrolment—Education (Junior secondary) -- South Africa -- Qumbu Rationalisation and re-alignment -- Schools
- Type
- Thesis, M Ed
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/11260/1326
- Identifier
- vital:30806
- Format
- xv, 108 leaves, pdf
- Publisher
- Walter Sisulu University, Faculty of Educational Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Walter Sisulu University
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details | SOURCE1 | VELLEM MXOLISI MEd.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |