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I have been teaching in South Africa for 23 years before me and my husband decided to move to China and gain international experience. There are a lot of problems for learners in South African schools. In this task I will touch on a few important factors, but there are many more. 1. Language. One of the biggest problems for learners in South Africa is language. The fact that there are 11 official languages make it difficult for schools to cater for all learners. Learners also have to take an additional language at school and this is where the problem starts. Learners have to pass English or Afrikaans as a second language and most of them never use the languages at home. Most of their parents also don’t know and speak these languages. 2. Transport. A lot of students have problems to go to school. Some of them have to walk for long distances to get to school. Taxis are used in the townships, but some of them are not roadworthy or they are overloaded. I know of a lot of accidents where students were involved in. The government provides buses, but they are mostly unreliable and sometimes they don’t pitch or are late. Because of this, students are late and for school and miss some lessons. 3. Poverty. People in some rural areas in South Africa are very poor. In some cases learners don’t attend school. They are forced to help with the household, to work in the crops or help to take care of young ones. 4. Big classrooms/Not enough schools. In some schools in the townships the classrooms are huge. In my opinion, it is impossible to provide quality teaching when there are one teacher for more than 50 learners per class. There are also a shortage of schools and the government doesn’t have resources to build enough schools. 5. Crime and bullying. Crime is also a big problem for learners in South Africa. In some areas gangs are very active and students get mugged and robbed while walking to school. A lot of learners don’t attend school regularly because they get bullied at school. They are too afraid to attend school because of above mentioned. 6. Textbooks. Almost each year there are hundreds of schools who receive their textbooks late. There have been cases where schools only received their textbooks from the department in the second term. Because of this, it is impossible that effective teaching and learning can take place. 7. Teacher training and teacher shortages. There are cases where teachers who are not qualified teachers are actually teaching in classrooms. The quality of teaching is poor and this is also a problem for students. There are a shortage of Math and Science teachers. These are two very important subjects all over the world. Students need good symbols in these subjects for further studies at universities. These are only some of the problems that learners in South African schools face. Fortunately these problems are not present at all schools in the country. There are a lot of good and performing schools as well. These problems can be solved but it will take a lot of time, dedication and money.
