Children who enter Grade 1 at the minimum age of 5½ years face a significantly higher risk of repeating the grade.
This is according to a new report by the Stellenbosch University which also noted that temporary leniency in school promotion policies during the pandemic caused unintended consequences for the education sector.
Consequences of the temporary leniency showed that while there was reduced grade repetition and enabled accelerated learner progression, boys transitioning to English as their language of instruction at Grade 4 encountered more difficulties than girls - even when beginning with similar proficiency in an African home language.
The report was compiled by the Stellenbosch University’s Research on Socio-Economic Policy (Resep) group which highlights critical challenges in South African education.
The study focused on six of the country’s nine provinces - Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West.
The Resep study found that children who wait to enter school until age 6 posed a lesser risk of repeating Grade 1, with boys being particularly affected.
In the Eastern Cape, the repetition rate for boys entering school at 5 years and 6 months is 31%, while for girls of the same age group, it is 19%.
In contrast, boys in the Eastern Cape who entered Grade 1 a year later, at 6 years and 6 months, had a repetition rate of 20%, while girls had a rate of 8%.
This suggests that younger entrants often may lack the developmental readiness required for formal schooling, leading to early academic struggles.
Drawing on extensive data from South African School Administration Management System (SA-SAMS), Learner Unit Record Information and Tracking System (LURITS) and the Data Driven Districts (DDD) the report underscored persistent gender disparities in school progression.
This study, a collaboration between Resep and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, examines the long-term impacts of early school entry, linguistic challenges and subject choices in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase, providing valuable insights for policymakers and educators.
Key findings of the report noted: “The pandemic led to temporary leniency in school promotion policies to address disruptions caused by closures. While these measures reduced grade repetition and enabled accelerated learner progression, they also resulted in unintended consequences.
“By 2022, matric pass rates were 21% higher than pre-pandemic projections, with data suggesting that three-quarters of this increase resulted from policy changes rather than academic improvement. Learners in poorer provinces and no-fee schools were particularly affected, advancing to higher grades without mastering foundational skills. This created significant challenges for critical transition years, such as Grade 4 and Grade 10, where learning gaps are particularly pronounced.”
In the Further Education and Training (FET) phase, the report noted that gender disparities become increasingly evident.
While initial enrolments are relatively balanced, higher repetition rates among boys lead to a significant gender gap by Grade 12.
“The report indicates that approximately 100,000 more girls than boys are enrolled in Grade 12, a disparity attributed to much higher repetition rates among boys than girls. Although repetition rates have declined since the pandemic, boys continue to experience higher repetition and dropout rates than girls,” the report noted.
The Resep report suggested placing a cap on the amount of learners to repeat a grade in any year.
“Tackling South Africa’s relatively low learning outcomes is a central theme in the country’s education policy debates. Class sizes at the primary level are clearly excessive and present an obvious barrier to improving learning. This is especially so when there are many more learners in a classroom than what the classroom was built to accommodate16.
“Much of the debate around reducing class sizes focusses on the largely unaffordable solution of employing many more teachers…One approach would be to reduce grade repetition in the early grades, for instance by placing a cap on what percentage of learners may repeat a grade in any year. Such a cap does not exist in South Africa. In a context where 8% of learners are repeating in the earliest grades18, eliminating grade repetition would essentially reduce class sizes by 8%,” the Resep report said.