The World Economic Forum has painted a shocking picture of South Africa’s education system, and its maths and science education in particular. In the forum’s 2013 Global IT Report, it ranks the country second last for maths and science education and fifth-last for its overall education system.
The report ranks the country’s education worse than many of the world’s poorest nations, saying it’s a major obstacle the country must overcome if it is to compete with its African peers, let alone hold its own on the rest of the international stage.
Of the 144 countries surveyed, South Africa placed 143rd for the quality of its maths and science education and 139th for its overall education system. South Africa ranks ahead of only Yemen, Burundi, Libya and Haiti overall. In maths and science, only war-torn Yemen ranks lower.
Mauritius, meanwhile, is placed first in Africa (49th worldwide) for maths and science education, with Zimbabwe one place behind. Rwanda and Botswana are both in the top 70 worldwide, and even the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho manages to outperform South Africa substantially by ranking 119th overall.
The World Economic Forum report features its annual Networked Readiness Index, which ranks about three-quarters of the world’s nations based on the state of their information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystems and their readiness to use technology.
South Africa, in 70th spot overall in the readiness index, up from 72nd last year, and Mauritius, in 55th (53rd before), are the only African countries to place in the top half of the list. Most African countries hold up the bottom of the index, accounting for nine of the last 10 positions.
“Sub-Saharan Africa has continued to make significant efforts in building its ICT infrastructure, as reflected by important improvements in developing its broadband infrastructure and the expansion of its mobile network coverage,” the report says. “As a result, ICT usage, while still very low, has picked up slightly, as seen especially by an increase in the number of Internet users and also by the continued commitment of some governments in the region to expand the number of available online services.”
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However, the cost of connectivity and relatively low levels of skills and education, coupled with unfavourable business conditions for entrepreneurship and innovation, are hindering the region’s capacity to leverage the potential of increasingly prevalent technology infrastructure.
Although South Africa’s broadband infrastructure and capacity have improved, with business increasing its use of ICT, the wider impact is still limited.
“The perception of a lack of clear government vision to orchestrate and implement a holistic ICT strategy for the country, coupled with deficiencies in the education system for some segments of the population, play negatively in this process and outweigh a rather positive political and regulatory framework for ICT development and a pro-business environment,” the report says.
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Across many African countries surveyed for the report, the same obstacles were found: lack of infrastructure, the cost of connectivity and problems of access and education.
South Africa performs admirably on some measures, including mobile phone penetration and its policy and regulatory environment, particularly the efficiency of its legal system in settling disputes, protecting intellectual property and challenging regulations. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media
Explore this interactive map for more data on each country surveyed: