Presented at AIDS 2010 in Vienna - Austria

Educational Attainment and Enrolment in the Free State Province: Using Census 2011

Patricia Mangoejane

Statistics South Africa, Free State Province

MethodsUsing Census 2011 dataset two indicators are used to measure progress in education in the province; Gross Enrolment Rate (GER), and Age Specific Enrolment Rate (ASER). GER measures enrolment, regardless of age, at a specific level of education, as a proportion of the appropriately-aged population for the given level of education. ASER is enrolment of a specific single age, irrespective of the level of education, as a percentage of the population of the same age. These indicators are computed and compared with other provinces and other districts within the province.

Education in ordinary schools is grouped in terms of either the General Education and Training (GET) and Further Education and Training (FET) bands or traditional primary and secondary phases. The GET band (Grades 0 to 9) caters for the following phases: Foundation phase (Grades R to 3), Intermediate phase (Grades 4to 6) and Senior phase (Grades 7to 9). The FET band caters for Grades 10 to 12 and excludes learners in FET colleges. Analysis was made possible by the use of SuperCross and Microsoft Excel 2007.

Results : General Enrolment RateAccording to figure 1 below, the foundation phase GER of the Free Sate Province is 77.09% and fall below the average of SA (77.12%). However the GER of the intermediate phase, senior phase and FET phase registered over 100%

District differentials within the province, the foundation phase GER (not shown) is the lowest across all districts with Xhariep district (79.48%) having the highest foundation phase GER, followed by Thabo Mofutsanyane district (78.28%). Mangaung metro has a GER of 76.14%, falling behind that of Xhariep and Thabo Mofutsanyane.

Age Specific Enrolment Rate

Figure 2 overleaf shows ASER for the age group 7-17 years across the province. TheASER of Mangaung metro reaches plateau between the ages 7-16 before gradually

tapering off from age 17 to age 24. Mangaung metro repots an average ASER of 94.68 for 7 year olds. Thabo Mofutsanyane reports the highest ASER of 96.25% years for 7 year olds. Although the ASER of Mangaung declines from 77% for age groups 18 to 17.78% for age group 24, it is the highest compared to other districts.

IntroductionRecently (2011-2012 financial year) Mangaung attained the status of Metropolitan District Council, which is a sign of development for Mangaung in particular and Free State Province in general. It is thus imperative for the education system of Mangaung to live up to the “metro status” afforded to the municipality. Education is an important indicator for development and standard of living and is ranked the highest amongst the 12 pillars of competitiveness in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013. Basic education increases the efficiency of each individual worker, in other words, lack of basic education can become a constraint to business development. This poster aims to use Census 2011 data to assess education enrolment and attainment of the school going population in the Free State province. The study will be limited to educational attainment and performance of the Free State province and Mangaung metro

DiscussionA GER of less than 100% indicates that fewer learners than anticipated are enrolled in a specific education phase. The Foundation Phase GER (77.09%) is lower in the Free State across all districts indicating that fewer learners than expected may be enrolled in primary education. However the intermediate, seniour and FET phase GER exceeds 100% indicating a high level of grade repetition or students who reach intermediate phase at a much older age.

The ASER of 94.68% for 7 year olds indicates that enrolment in primary education has improved markedly in Mangaung Metro although Thabo Mofutsanyane district has a much higher ASER (96.25%) than Mangaung metro. Although ASER at ages over 16 declines markedly, Mangaung has a higher ASER than other districts in the province. This is an indication that tertiary education is concentrated in Mangaung metro and provides better education access and opportunities for those aged over 16 years.

Conclusions

Although both the ASER and GER fall below the benchmark of a 100%, Mangaung has made progress in ensuring school enrollment as demonstrated in this study (Foundation phase GER of 76.14%, ASER at age 7 of 94.68%). Although schooling is largely accessible for all, interventions has to be put in place to ensure successful grade progression and to discourage drop outs. Grade repetition and late enrollment contribute to higher GER. More further education opportunities have to be introduced for those aged 16 and above in order to attain a higher ASER.

Literature cited1. Census 2011 data (Statistics South Africa)2. MDG Report 2012-20133. Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013)4. Educational Statistics in South Africa Report (2011)5. Educational Indicators Technical guidelines Report ( Nov 2009)

Grade 00/R - Grade 3 Grade 4 - Grade 6 Grade 7 - Grade 9 Grade 10 - Grade 12 Total

WC 75.30495161365 98.8162572429307 100.571486195485 81.3700097176138 86.784571090683

EC 84.5382285499734 115.574497249666 102.833358513298 94.9648419690015 97.059144435801

NC 73.6359811982504 108.663738422983 103.457026613809 86.5810435059572 90.0329866080826

FS 77.0855262089276 108.462649987649 108.28605747776 104.033304117608 95.7637203484542

KZN 73.9913380751059 101.412373404028 101.892610922699 103.01359737155 92.2228582974317

NW 76.8661688607827 109.351972269328 103.591051110436 94.6317717765954 92.8497035132367

GP 73.7364169133285 100.261265683168 103.933820631758 100.564819679923 91.0909962267501

MP 78.2876283222391 108.416020004676 111.717858544165 106.601038191326 98.010991226231

LP 80.2948729859039 109.829903493911 117.805763926003 123.807170136541 104.28703013822

SA 77.1175450829085 105.73265585493 105.595656633486 101.479845169238 94.3949842321985

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Figure 1: GER distribution in age group 5-24 years by Free State Province: Census 2011

Figure 2: ASER distribution in the age group 5 – 24 years by districts of the Free State Province: Census 2011

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 TOTAL

XHARIEP

77.2455365592264

90.2241236667736

94.958827027694

96.0295981224498

96.3428879364654

95.7690848815119

96.2636593130476

95.4646273085439

94.9211955372962

94.2810072052232

91.1042033563623

87.1648325309574

78.8090272912663

66.9121875473992

48.5011509371917

33.9713531405154

20.2766586687572

13.5046700207118

9.05371290981632

4.85125330692438

69.9895066966655

LEJWELEPUTSWA

70.1383145901564

87.3672164650945

93.9398953757098

95.4363073009175

95.8828208863228

95.7432744064336

95.8188292045236

95.5376104103704

95.4102564102564

94.4943805323537

92.1215461002582

88.9965359110911

82.6417260914697

70.8670308652386

52.5882286947368

37.0992292438461

26.0517514480569

16.6108029463375

12.5171090312274

9.28180832082658

69.149520197446

THABO MO-FUT-SANYANE

79.1914938342859

92.750559889016

96.2505561369106

97.2226150117448

97.3903001080956

96.5385685925077

97.1909351082048

97.107508044993

96.8928380680991

96.5466499088891

94.6081944196237

91.5271767633329

87.013778135809

77.152942585551

58.6153143410255

42.1838724885214

29.1112074178752

18.3598353111066

12.8753351492667

9.03491001355647

74.0493764407938

FEZILE DABI

77.2218292573711

90.3030908827234

94.9264605431833

95.6231694632292

96.2776976778777

95.8482616698142

96.2697541385844

95.7405323996551

95.7748983186681

95.5054393444991

93.1194183292354

89.4614042646293

84.5850158427722

75.2349465836517

55.6727879649776

40.1292343461964

27.2664238947296

16.7003431501255

11.3822387964353

8.64750628033147

70.8370110601439

MAN-GAUNG

74.0934101449851

89.1480666212474

94.6810287912601

95.2340413702132

96.185611139754

95.5951268164703

95.9072331948237

95.3918577429489

95.5600836468211

95.2448286319117

93.9752727843945

90.8794978420749

86.6066622823338

77.5203196612536

63.7948969744467

52.1191071809064

42.9284809352315

31.7843337646231

23.9033782752912

17.7761099264356

72.5870047322486

FREE STATE

75.4599632673794

90.0870251293488

95.0417952922154

95.9956645967706

96.5050655786915

95.9682712112216

96.3506272461502

95.9958379227906

95.9167825816869

95.454581929976

93.4506288101788

90.2259522720093

85.1039923136715

74.9954314022481

57.9111125349527

43.3922317731505

31.8806288707416

21.4760547569923

15.5822598054726

11.3015115782284

71.8058187504321

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