COLLECTION ED / SDI

UNESCO House, Paris. 25-27 June 1991

Organized jointly by the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

in cooperation with the Advisory Committee on the United Nations Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa IUNETPSAI

BACKGROUND PAPER NO. 4

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

by

M. K. Bacchus

[Note: This paper was originally prepared for the meeting of the Commonwealth Expert Group on Human Resource Development for a Post-Apartheid South Africa, held in London from 7 to 9 November 1990.

M. K. Bacchus is associated with the Department of Education/International Education of the University of Alberta, Canada.

The views expressed in this paper are those of the author.]

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CONTENTS

Page

INTRDDÜCnCN 1

I. SCME S0CŒ0-EŒ3N0MIC FEATURES OF THE SOUIH AFRICAN SOCIETY.. *

A. The economy 4

B. Population size 5

C. Distribution of economically active population g

D. Economic situation in certain key sectors of the economy 7

1. Mining and quarrying 7

2. Agriculture g

3. Manufacturing g 4. Public service g

D. Some data on the workforce 1°

II. ADVANCED EDUCATION AND TRAINING NEEDS 12

A. Meeting the need for a better-trained labour force for the South African economy 12

B. Specific needs in the area of advanced education

and higher-level training for Blacks 15

III. TERTIARY IEVEL EDUCATION FOR BIACKS IN SOUTH AFRICA 17

A. Universities 17

B. Technical and vocational education 26

C. Teachers and teacher training 27

D. Educational background of women 29

IV. INCREASING THE ENTRY OF AFRICANS INTO INSTTTÜTIONS OF

ADVANCED EDUCATION AND TRAINING 30

A. Improving the quality of the teaching staff 30

B. Enhancing the overall academic standards of the

secondary schools 33

V. BEYOND THE NEEDS FOR A N EDUCATED AND TRAINED ELITE 3f-

A. Adult education needs L 2

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Page

VI. POSSIBLE OOMÜNWEAIHH CONTRIBUTION 44

Annexes

I. Total employment of high-level and middle-level manpower fay occupational groups 51

II. Contribution of Africans, Coloureds and Asians as a percentage of all persons in certain occupational groups 52

1

INTRODUCTION

The major purpose of the present paper is to contribute some more insight to the issue of advanced education and training of Black South Africans, especially as the country moves towards the abolition of apartheid, and to make recommendations. More specifically, it would attempt to look at issues in education and training from the point of view of needs, policy options and priorities. Therefore, after analyzing seme of the problems and identifying some of the challenges involved, the paper will suggest possible areas of cooperation among members of the Commonwealth to help with the further strategy for South Africa that might bring about greater Black participation in the various tertiary level educational institutions and higher level occupations in the country.

However, it was felt that any assistance in this field that the Commonwealth might be willing to provide should fit in with an overall assessment of national needs in the area of advanced education and training. Hence, after an analysis of the educational situation, especially among Blacks in the country, the paper will go on to suggest same overall policies that might be implemented, including policies that need to be introduced by the Government itself, in an effort to increase the flow of Blacks to tertiary level educational institutions. Then, within the framework of overall needs assessment, suggestions will be made as to what actions might usefully be taken by the Commonwealth countries in general to help overcome same of the many problems, as part of an effort to increase Black and specifically African representation in the higher level occupations of the country.

But before attempting to grapple with this very broad issue, it would be useful to begin by identifying same of the overall principles that ought to guide the development of any concrete proposal in this field. First, it should be noted that a "human resource development strategy" is not only concerned with providing individual s with the necessary skills that will allow them to secure employment, or at least more active participation in the labour force - even though this aspect of the strategy is very important. The concept is much broader than this and encompasses all those activities that would lay the foundation for a fuller and more productive utilization of the total human resources (both actual and potential) of a country. Therefore, in addition to education and training, a key concern of such a strategy should be the implementation of programmes that are likely, especially in the case of South Africa, to reduce intergroup conflict and to create a certain degree of social and political stability. This more harmonious relationship between the various groups would help to lay a sound foundation for more productive involvement of the different sections of the population, not only in the economy, but also in all other spheres of social interaction, including those that are directly related to their participation in a common labour force.

One of the key concerns of a liberal democratic State, such as the one envisaged for a post-apartheid South Africa, is to achieve a balance between the often conflicting demands that it faces or will face for:

(a) Capital accumulation, in order to lay the foundation for continuing economic growth that would provide more jobs for its rapidly expanding labour force;

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(b) The need for legitimacy that would largely depend on the perception among all sections of the population of the sense of "fairness" that characterizes the society and the attempts that are being made by the State to achieve justice and equity in the distribution of its national resources. The liberal democratic State cannot survive as such if it fails to take into consideration and strike a balance between these two conflicting goals.

Therefore, bearing this in mind, it is suggested that the following principles must guide a human resource development strategy for a post-apartheid South Africa.

First, there must be a fairly rapid movement towards the equalization of income-earning opportunities for all sections of the population. In this "information" and "technological age", which is increasingly dependent on the quality rather than the quantity of a nation's human resources, the education and training opportunities that are available to the population are important. Therefore, every step needs to be taken to equalize the training opportunities that the different racial and ethnic groups in the country have at all levels of the educational system. This would involve:

(a) Improving both the access to and the quality of education available to the currently disadvantaged groups in the society - who are mainly Africans;

(b) Ensuring that the qualitative differences that now exist in the human resources of the country, and that resulted from racial discrimination, are rapidly eliminated. This would involve equalizing:

(i) The quality of teachers available to educate the students of these different groups;

(ii) The pupil-teacher ratios in their schools;

(iii) The availability of adequate space and equipment for instructional purposes.

It would also require extensive efforts at improving access to adult and non-formal education for those who have already left school, especially because of the marked differences in education and literacy levels currently found among these groups.

Such steps are necessary not only for the long-term social stability of the country but will also, in themselves, contribute to a more efficient utilization of the workforce which will be better prepared for the tasks to be performed in a society without apartheid;

Secondly, there will be recognition of the fact that the provision of formal educational opportunities alone would not ensure equality of access to comparable irKxme-earning opportunities for all groups in the society. This would require the development and implementation of supporting policies and programmes, if this goal is to be achieved. There will obviously be certain structural characteristics of South African society that will continue to exist, even after apartheid is officially abolished, and these would also have to be changed if both educational and job opportunities are to be more

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effectively available to all racial groups on the basis of ability. For example, the current quite rigid segmentation of the labour market on the basis of race will not simply disappear because there will be more qualified Blacks available for senior-level positions on the labour market. Other active steps will have to be taken by the Government, along with the private sector, to ensure that this problem is overcome.

In addition to the structural barriers that are likely to impede upward job mobility for Blacks in South Africa, there are going to remain certain psychological features, embedded in the very psyche of the population, that were developed during the years of aparthed rule and that have resulted in fairly sharp sterotypes that the different racial groups have developed of themselves and of each other. These will have to be eradicated if greater equality based on achievement and ability, rather than ascription, is to be achieved. For example, over the past years of apartheid rule, South African Whites have come to see Blacks in a certain light and this would continue to colour their perception of the types of jobs for which they think members of these groups are capable, unless efforts are made to eradicate such stereotypes. Similarly, many Blacks, especially those in the rural areas who have not been as actively involved in the liberation struggle, have over the years developed a poor perception of their own abilities and a negative self-esteem that might cause them not to realize and strive to utilize their full potential. Therefore, a human resource development strategy for post-apartheid South Africa must also involve efforts aimed at raising the self-esteem of Black groups in the society so that they could have greater confidence in themselves and in what they are capable of achieving.

The opening up of a free, competitive market place for all labour, irrespective of race, will be an important step in this direction. But, experience in other countries, including the United States of America, has clearly shown that this has to be supplemented by certain structural changes and by the introduction of certain policy measures, and even positive discrimination in favour of the traditionally disadvantaged groups, to ensure that their progress towards greater equality in access to jobs will be achieved.

Thirdly, any training provided for workers in South Africa must be of the highest quality, which would ensure that the efficiency of the labour force is maintained and improved. Here it must be remembered that South Africa is a fairly industrialized country, probably the most industrially developed country in Africa, and cannot afford to lose the competitive edge that it might enjoy in certain areas of the world economy. Much of this would depend on the productivity of its labour force, which in turn would be linked to the quality and motivation of its workers and the social relationships that they would experience in the workplace. The level of motivation would increasingly depend on how rapidly there is substitution of achievement for ascriptive norms in the employment field and in the reward structures for labour.

Fourthly, another factor that must be considered in a multi-racial society such as South Africa is the extent to which the educational system not only improves the technical skills of the population in preparation for their participation at all levels in the labour force, but also recognizes the importance and helps to develop the culture of the various ethnic groups in

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the society. This is likely to contribute to a strengthening of the ties that individuals have with their own ethnic group, while at the same time building bridges to other groups and creating a sense of loyalty to the nation as a whole. The feeling of self-respect that this sense of group and national identity can generate is not necessarily in conflict and can also be an important factor in raising the individual 's level of economic productivity and his or her social and psychological stability.

Finally, while achievement rather than ascripton should eventually become the main basis on which rewards in the society are distributed, it must also be pointed out that a truly democratic South Africa needs to be a humane society where the needs of the illiterate, the unemployed, the poor, the handicapped, the sick, the disabled and the old are not ignored. This in itself can be a source of comfort to the working population and increase their willingness to contribute more fully to the labour force when they are able to do so, knowing that the society as a whole would help them in their hour of need.

Having identified some guiding principles that should pervade a strategy of human resources development for a South Africa moving towards the abolition of apartheid, the next issue that will be dealt with is the overall need for a better-trained labour force for the South African economy and for a much greater participation of Blacks at the higher levels of the occupational hierarchy. But before this is attempted, a very brief description will be provided of some of the main features of the South African economy that are likely to have ah important relationship to the need for additional trained human resources.

I. SCME SOCIO-ECONOMIC FEATURES OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY

A. The economy

The South African economy is a complex and modern one, but over the more recent past it was being depleted by a flight of capital and skills, largely resulting from the current political unrest in the country. Another indirect outcome of the current situation is that immigration to South Africa, which was an important source of higher-level human resources during times of economic growth, has fallen off considerably and it is not likely to increase in the near future.

Next to Nigeria, the South African economy is the largest in Africa, with the highest per capita gross national product after Gabon. However, the rate of growth of its economy has been slow and declining over the past three decades. It dropped from a 5.5 per cent rate of growth between 1962 and 1972, to 3 per cent between 1972 and 1982. From then, the annual growth rate has been fluctuating quite markedly, dropping to 1.1 per cent in 1988. It is estimated that the economy needs to grow at least 5 per cent per annum if the population is to maintain the existing standard of living, in view of the current rate of population increase.

But, with the decline in the economic growth rates to a negative figure during a number of the past few years, unemployment, especially among the

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African sector of the population, has reached alarming proportions and according to reliable estimates it is now at about 4.5 millions. 1/ One estimate indicated that between 1980 and 1988, the economically active Black population grew by an average of 3 per cent, while employment in the formal economy increased annually by only 1 per cent. Therefore, especially since the Black population is young - 71 per cent of all school age children in 1988 were Black - the task of finding them more jobs has become and will continue to be an increasingly difficult problem.

One of the key contributing factors to the growing unemployment situation in South Africa is said to be the lack of new investment in the country. Even when such investment is made, it is towards capital-intensive production that does little to ease the unemployment situation. In fact, it has been suggested that had it not been for the fact that the informal sector absorbs about 150,000 to 350,000 new entrants on the labour market each year, the unemployment situation would have been ••catastrophic".

In addition to the state of the economy, it is generally suggested that one of the other major causes of unemployment among the Black population is that most Blacks are inadequately educated and trained. The Development Bank of South Africa has suggested that unless major changes are made in the choice of education and training programmes by Black students, "four out of five teenagers leaving the classroom to seek jobs 10 years from now will find themselves in unemployment queues". 2/ In this context, self-help and self-employment projects are being increasingly used as part of the national strategy against unemployment and low level of skills in the workforce.

Nevertheless, it is expected that in a post-apartheid situation, after the present political problems and conflicts are successfully resolved, South Africa is likely to become a key industrial nation in Africa, playing a leading role in the economic development of the whole southern African region. As such, the potential for its economic growth would be substantial.

B. Population size

The figures in table 1 give the estimated population of South Africa by ethnic groups in 1986. These estimates were calculated by the Human Science Research Council and are considered more realistic than the census data which, it is said, "underoounted" the Black population. The annual rate of increase in the population is between 2.3 and 2.5 per cent, with the rate of growth being highest among the African population. Therefore, by the year 2000, it is estimated that the population of the country will be between 39 million and 44 million.

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Table 1

Racial qroups

Whites Oolcureds Indians Africans a/

Total

Estimated by_

population of South Africa racial qroups, 1986

Estimated population

4 947 100 2 862 200 861 300

27 146 200

35 816 800

Fercentaqe

13.8 8.0 2.4 75.8

100.0

a/ Includes the population in the so-called "independent bantustans" of Transkei, Bophutatswana, Venda and Ciskei.

C. Distribution of economicallv active population

In 1985, the distribution of the economically active population in the key sectors of the economy and the numbers of Whites and Africans employed in each was as per the figures in table 2.

Table 2

Distribution of the economically--active population in South Africa by industry, 1985

Sector

Agriculture and fishing Mining Manufacturing Electricity, gas and water Communication Commerce and catering Transport and communication FinarKÄ/insurance/property

(In thousands)

Total numbers employed

1 180 743

1 380 93 556

1 010 418 287 a/

Community/social/ personal/services 2 304 Unemployed 1 077

No. of Whites

89 88 362 33 105 300 182 209 746 89

No. of Africans

908 642 671 52 331 543 181 53

1 246 908

Total 9 046

a/ 1980 figures.

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D. Economic situation in certain key sectors of the economy

1. Mining and quarrying

In 1984, this sector of the economy contributed 13.9 per cent to the country's gross domestic product and in 1985 employed slightly under 750,000 workers, though this figure is estimated to have dropped 8 per cent by 1989. Of these, about 12 per cent were White and about 86 per cent were Black South Africans. In addition, there is a large number of migrant workers in this industry. The lower wages received by Blacks in this sector were said to be largely responsible for the fact that South African Blacks made up only about 20 per cent of the mine labour force.

Mineral exports account for about 75 per cent of foreign earnings and uncertainty in relation to the gold price has had its effect on employment in this sector too. In mid-1989, 400,765 persons were employed in the gold mines, which represented a drop of 7 per cent from 1988. Further, the job losses in the mining industry that have occurred over the years have not been compensated for by the creation of new jobs in other sectors of the economy.

However, since then there have been some signs that conditions for Blacks in the industry might be improving, as can partly be seen in the fact that the major mining companies are now constructing houses in the townships for married workers. If such accommodation becomes available to South African Blacks, it will make these jobs more attractive to them and, as Fion de Vletter of the Internatioal labour Organisation (HO) predicts, this is likely to lead to a significant reduction in the recruitment on foreign workers for the mines and greater dependence on South African Black workers. 3/

But while this might improve the economic conditions of the Black workers, it is not necessarily going to increase their chances of occupational mobility within the industry. This is largely because "positions higher than that of team leader in the underground supervising hierarchy are currently closed to Black miners'1. Therefore, in the short-run at least "it is not expected that Blacks will surge into higher positions, though there might be a gradual replacement of White miners by Black team leaders over time". 4/ Such progress is likely to be slow indeed, judging by the developments that have so far taken place in the industry. Although the Scheduled Persons Act, which reserved certain mining occupations for Whites only, has been abolished, the reality is that Blacks have made little progress in moving up the mining occupational hierarchy. This is partly due to conflicts with the Advisory Committee, which was appointed to advise the Minister on standards of education required for issuing "certificates of competency" for the skilled jobs, with regard to the "proven labour needs". A major difficulty will be trying to improve opportunities for the occupational advancement of Blacks because of years of educational discrimination. The Black miners often do not have the formal educational qualifications that are often specified as requirements for obtaining skilled jobs in the industry. As the General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers pointed out:

"We feel we still have racial discrimination over jobs in the mines, but this time it is in a very subtle and sophisticated way... . This confirms our belief that for racism to be abolished in South African mines,

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apartheid has to be liquidated." 5/

The point here is that Black miners still find it difficult to secure entry into the more skilled jobs. Further, while it is said that Blacks in the industry do not have supervisory and managerial skills, they were never provided with the opportunities to acquire such skills, no doubt because of resistance by the White miners. Therefore, the provision of formal management training for Blacks in the industry is not likely to result in an immediate improvement of their prospects for promotion, although this will certainly help, especially as the situation changes.

2. Agriculture

Access to land in South Africa is racially determined. Therefore, the agricultural sector is dominated by White family farms, with Whites owning 87 per cent of all land under agricultural cultivation. These White farmers enjoy generous subsidies from the State and partly as a result of this were able to centralize and mechanize their production, thereby reducing the number of farms in the country over the past 25 years, from about 100,000 to 58,000. Nevertheless, agriculture makes up most of the foreign exchange earnings for South Africa after minerals, but this sector has been under constant pressure from sanctions in the recent past.

While the ownership of farms is in the hands of the Whites, those who work on them are mainly Blacks - about 1 million, with double that number in certain seasons. One in five Black South Africans lives on White-owned farms and their incomes as farm workers are extremely low - about 1:14 in comparison with the incomes of Whites engaged in agriculture. In fact, it is said that Black farm labourers are cheaper than slaves. Blacks often secure access to land or tenancy of some agricultural land by working half-time without pay for a landowner on a contract that does not usually involve any exchange of cash. The contractual relationship is between the White farmer and the Black family, which has to meet certain obligations specified by the farmer, failing which the tenancy could be terminated immediately. However, there has been same recent change in this practice and farm labourers now often receive between R 10 and R 30 per month but in return are given access to smaller fields and are allowed to keep only 6 to 10 heads of cattle to graze on the land.

A serious problem for farm workers is the education of their children who often have to walk long distances - sometimes four hours - to get to a school and back home. In some cases, small schools are established on the farm but this is entirely at the discretion of the farmer and the standards of those schools are not usually regulated by the Government. A few Black commercial farmers do exist and although their numbers have been increasing more recently, they still form a very small group.

In these circumstances, with income levels of the Blacks engaged in farming so low, it is no wonder that there are so few of them studying agriculture at a higher level. One report suggested that the social and economic situation of farm workers needed to be addressed at the same time as schools for their children are improved because the average farm worker's life is characterized by poverty, powerlessness, insecurity and alienation.

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To improve the supply of Blacks who are ready and willing to take up formal training through further studies in agriculture, there needs to be a whole programme of land reform that would facilitate the access of Blacks to land and make capital available to them to develop it for agricultural purposes. The State itself owns a considerable amount of land, including all the land in the bantustans. At least some of these lands should be given to Black farmers if the State wants to encourage them to develop agricultural skills. There is also the need for the State, in an attempt to correct past injustices over land ownership, to purchase land that is not fully utilized for farming and to distribute it on some equitable basis to Black farmers. Ifc this policy is pursued, Cornmonwealth countries, such as Zimbabwe, which has done a considerable amount of work in this field through its Agricultural and Rural Devleopment Authority, could be of tremendous help. It should be able to provide extension training to those who are going to work with the Black farmers, to ensure their self-sufficiency and the eventual profitability of their farms.

3. Manufacturing

This sector began to develop rapidly in 1960, and by 1970 it had become a major source of employment in the country. By 1982, the workforce in manufacturing had reached its peak (1.4 million) in terms of the number of workers employed. This was up by about 12 per cent from the 1980 figures. However, since then manufacturing has failed to sustain the rate of growth experienced in the previous decade. Investments in manufacturing have fallen by 55 per cent since 1981, and in 1988 this sector was employing about 1.3 million workers, of whom about 48.5 per cent were Africans and about 26 per cent were Whites. African women made up a substantial percentage of the workers in this area - about 27 per cent.

However, the number of Whites in manufacturing rose from 210,000 to over 361,000 between 1960 and 1985 6/ and they dominated the managerial, professional and technical jobs in the industry because of the fact they had the higher level and the technical education necessary for these positions. Africans normally occupied the unskilled jobs, although increasingly many of them were employed in sales. One outcome of this difference in the type of jobs held was that, in October 1988, White workers were, on the average, earning three times as much as Black workers in manufacturing. An area where White employment increased substantially was the chemical industry, while Black employment in this field virtually remained static. This is partly because of the capital-intensive nature of the industry, which meant that it provided more employment for skilled and technical workers, most of whom were White.

4. Public service

The Government remained the largest employer in South Africa and its rate of growth measured in terms of demand for personnel outstripped the private sector. For example, between mid-1980 and mid-1988, the number of government employees increased by about 450,000, compared with an increase of 30,000 in the private sector during the same period. Traditionally, Blacks were effectively excluded from the higher ranks of the public service and therefore there are not many of them who have had the experience of working in a

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managerial capacity. There are sane, however, who have been employed at a fairly senior level in the "independent" bantustans but it is doubtful whether these experiences could truly prepare them to function in a national Government, especially when it is reported that there is a substantial amount of corruption in the bantustan administrations.

The teaching profession has been one of the most rapidly expanding areas of employment for Blacks in South Africa and with the Government's decision to equalize salaries and pupil-teacher ratios between Black and White teachers, as well as expenditure on all children, this would result in a substantial increase in the number of teachers required to staff the primary and secondary schools in the country. It has been estimated that, by the year 2000, there will be need for about 350,000 more teachers, increasing the employment opportunities, especially for women who currently make up about two thirds of the teaching force.

D. Some data on the workforce

The following figures give the total numbers of the economically active population in 1985, along with an indication of the size of the White and the African population employed in each occupational category.

Looking more specifically at particular occupations in this category, one gets a better picture as to the types of occupations where Africans were most heavily underrepresented.

Table 3

Representation of racial groups in various occupational categories

Percentage filled Percentage filled Occupational categories by Whites by Blacks

Professional 60.1 39.9 Managerial and executive 87.6 12.4 Clerical and sales 52.9 47.1 Production workers 7.7 92.3 unskilled workers 1.1 98.1

Source: Report for the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, p. 46.

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Table 4

Percentage of Africans in various "high-level" occupations

Occupations

Engineers Architects/surveyors Doctors Technicians Scientists Nurses Acxxxintants/auditors lawyers Managing directors Educationists

Percentage of

0.1 2.9 8.1 17.8 5.5 60.0 7.4 6.0 3.9 63.0

Source; National Manpower Commission (NMC), 1987.

An examination of the representation of Africans in the different occupations, as given in table 3 above, would reveal that only 1 per cent of them were in managerial positions. However, in the broader category of "higher-level" manpower, only 20.2 per cent of the positions were filled by Africans and 69.2 per cent by Whites. The underrepresentation of Blacks in higher-level occupations is borne out in the above figures and in the updated paper entitled "Advanced education and high-level training for Black South Africans", which was originally presented by the Commonwealth at the Harare Consultations in June 1989. Briefly, the heavy underrepresentation of Blacks was found in nearly all occupational fields, but it was particularly marked in such occupations as management and adndnistration, accountancy, engineering, information technology, medicine, agriculture, and also among technicians, nurses, paramedical personnel and other professional and semi-professional groups. In addition, unreliable as the information is concerning current and future vacancies in South Africa, it shows that in most of the above-mentioned fields, in fact in nearly all areas requiring high-level trained personnel, there was a continuing shortage of staff.

One of the striking features of African representation in the higher-level occupations is their slow pace of advancement, particularly into the professions. For example, there are only about 12 to 20 qualified African chartered accountants out of a total of 12,000 in the country and despite the fact that there is likely to be an increasing shortfall of professional staff

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in this field through the next decade, the progress made by Africans in moving into this occupation has been very slow. It is also estimated that while only half to three quarters of the normal annual demand for engineers in all fields of engineering is being met, Black and particularly African engineers only make up a trickle of those entering this profession. One of the problems they face is that so few of them are, for various reasons, graduating from or studying in these professional fields. In addition, in order to qualify fully as members of these professions, students must complete a period of attachment to a firm or to a qualified professional practising in the field. This introduces a system of "sponsored mobility" in which Africans are usually at a marked disadvantage.

II. ADVANCED EDUCATION AND TRAINING NEEDS

A. Meeting the need for a better trained labour force for the South African economy

In 1980, following the disturbances of the previous years, especially among those attending schools in the Black townships, NMC published the Reynders report, which looked into the implications of providing Blacks with the quality of education that was then being enjoyed by Whites. One of the more striking points made in the report made was that the White population alone could not provide the amount of higher-level human resources that the country needed to develop its full economic potential. Attention was drawn to the fact that, within the existing labour force, the ratio of the "executive group" - those who fell into the top occupational category - compared with the remainder of the workforce was then 1:52, while in most economically developed countries the ratio was usually no higher than 1:15. It was as low as 1:10 in the United States.

In other words, the proportion of lower-level and unskilled workers in the labour force to those in a management role was 5.2 times greater than in the United States. This led the Commission to conclude that "these statistics describe the impossibility of the South African economy performing as well as those of the developed countries of the world". 7/

The Commission emphasized the point that without an increased supply of qualified human resources to fill higher-level positions in the managerial and executive structure of the workforce, the country would be unable to develop its full economic growth and would likely suffer a decline in the rate of its economic growth and eventually in the standard of living of the population.

Another index of the inadequate supply of high-level manpower in the country is reflected in the fact that only 10.4 out of every 1,000 South Africans currently receive a university education, while it is expected that in countries in the income category of South Africa, the proportion should be about 16.51 university students for every 1,000 population, if the level of economic development is to be maintained. In other words, it is being suggested that South Africa needs at least a 50 per cent increase in its higher-level manpower supply if it is to sustain and improve its level of economic growth.

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Currently, Whites are probably already overrepresented in the tertiary level institutions in the country, since their enrolment is about 31.21 per 1,000 of the White population. On the other hand, the Blacks are seriously underrepresented in such institutions since they have only 3 per 1,000 of their population enroled in tertiary-level educational institutions. The Rector of the Stellenbosch University even suggested that, judging from the experiences of his own institution, the percentage of Whites enroled in universities in South Africa was already too large and as a result university standards had been declining in order to meet the educational level of some applicants from this group. While this remark might be considered as representing a somewhat elitist view of university education, it does point to the fact that White South African universities might already be admitting students of a lower calibre in order to meet the shortage of high-level human resources in the country. This cannot be a satisfactory state of affairs if the economy is going to maintain a competitive edge in international trade.

A South African Institute of Race Relations publication also suggested that, if only a 2 per cent average growth rate is achieved until the year 2000, there will be a shortage of 200,000 workers with degrees, diplomas, or a comparable level of education. Another estimate pointed out that although the number of matriculants from all racial groups will increase from 112,000 in 1985 to about 160,000 in 1990 (and it is projected to rise to 275,000 by the year 2000) by then South Africa will need to produce annually some 210,000 executives and more than a million highly skilled white-collar workers. In addition the estimate suggested that Blacks:

"will have to fill about 74,000 new managerial posts and 900,000 skilled office and teaching posts. On top of that, there are more than 33 workers for every manager or administrator, compared with ratios of about 6:1 in the united States and 8:1 in Europe. At present, only 11,000 Blacks are officailly listed as managers or administrators - less than 4 per cent of all such workers." 8/

The writer then went on to conclude that "the above projection is a strong indication that more students will need to be accepted and trained at institutions such as technikons for them to take their place successfully in a technically-oriented society. A crisis is anticipated unless the Government realizes and tackles this challenge". 8/

This escalating demand for Black higher-level manpower is expected to rise to a point where the percentage of Black workers in this category of the labour force would, by the year 2000, have to be almost doubled. Further, if South Africa were to continue developing economically and to retain its edge as the leading industrial nation in Africa, it would need to expand its research and development activities, which are currently quite limited, and for this it would require highly trained scientific personnel. In terms of estimating future needs and despite the unreliability of manpower projections, it is clear that the country's economy will also require an increasing supply of middle- and higher-level staff that, because of the demographics of the situation in South Africa, will have to be met from the Black population of the country.

Admittedly, there are many developments that can occur, such as the

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increased substitution of certain types of middle-level trained staff for more highly trained ones, or the better utilization of existing personnel - all of which could affect the rate of increase in the demand for fully trained professionals. But nevertheless, because the White population is declining in numbers, it is expected that by the next decade a substantial number of Blacks, if given the necessary training, could be readily absorbed into the higher-level occupations in the country.

The members of the Commonwealth have stressed that providing more training for high-level candidates is necessary to help strengthen the foundation for the development of longer-term economic and other relations between Commonwealth member States and a democratic and non-racial South Africa. The Harare Consultations reiterated the point that the training of competent and experienced Blacks for senior management positions was crucial for the future of South Africa and recognized the need to provide South Africans with opportunities to gain not only such high-level training but also the appropriate work experience that would help to ensure their competence when they have to fill such vacancies. The follow-up Canberra Consultations later secured approval for the establishment of a "(Zommonwealth-wide initiative" to help meet this need and agreed to the establishment of a Qsmmonwealth-wide programme and network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to conduct advanced education and training of Black South Africans.

Another point to be considered is that White enrolments in South African universities will soon reach their peak, if they have not already done so, and if this results in a decline in the numbers being educated and trained for higher-level positions in the country, it is also likely to produce a reduction in the rate of the country's economic growth. To prevent this, another source of higher-level manpower must be developed and this means that the country would increasingly need to draw upon its pool of Black workers to be educated and trained in order to fill such positions. All these projections and those by other individual s and groups have strongly emphasized the need for a massive expansion in the education and training facilities for the Black population of South Africa. In 1980, the Chairman of the Anglo American Corporation also pointed out that such a thrust was central to South Africa's economic future and also for its social stability. He later observed that the gap between the educational levels of the Black and White population was "the most serious obstacle to economic growth and better race relations in South Africa". 9/

Further, it must be remembered that the power of Blacks as consumers is increasing due to their growing numbers in the population. For example, it is estimated that by the year 2000 the South African Black population as a whole is likely to be earning more money and paying more income tax than Whites. They would therefore collectively be in a position to demand more equality in terms of job opportunities and the education and training that would prepare them for such challenges.

In addition, as previously indicated, with Whites making up an increasingly smaller proportion of the population 10/ they would be unable to provide the cadre of high-level professionals, technical and managerial personnel required to sustain and expand the complex industrial economy that has emerged and is likely to develop further in South Africa, following the

_15 _

abolition of apartheid. Therefore, if the country is going to compete in the world economy and play a leading role in the economic development of southern Africa, it must ensure that it has the best quality human resources in its workforce, irrespective of their colour. In fact, as previously noted, the long-term economic survival of the country would depend on this fact. The point about the need for greater utilization of the pool of Black workers to be trained to fill higher-level positions in the economy is also being re-emphasized by individuals concerned with the manpower shortages in the various professional fields. For example, it has been pointed out that, compared with most other countries at a similar stage of economic development, South Africa is only producing between 20 and 40 per cent of its engineering graduates per annum.

In summary, the above review and analysis has attempted to make it quite clear that the future of South Africa's economic and social development rests on its ability to upgrade the quality of its Black labour force if it wants to maintain or improve its competitive edge in the world economy and to play a crucial role in the economic development, especially in southern Africa. It must therefore increasingly rely on its Black workers to fill senior positions in its occupational structure on the basis of such achievement variables as education, skills, experience and competence and not such ascriptive criteria as skin colour. Therefore, there is a strong economic, social and political case for providing higher-level education and training to its Black population.

B. Specific needs in the area of advanced education and higher-level training for Blacks

Any improvement in the supply of higher-level manpower would be largely influenced by the education and training that the Blacks receive, particularly in tertiary-level educational institutions. The United States-South Africa Leader Exchange Program made a similar point when it observed that education was possibly the strongest force for social change in South Africa. Even though one cannot depend on education alone to bring about equality in the participation of Blacks in the labour force, it certainly is going to be a key factor in any movement in this direction.

Therefore, an analysis will be made of the enrolment of Blacks, especially in the tertiary-level educational institutions, to see whether the numbers of those who are being educated and the quality of the education they are receiving will likely prepare them for these positions. While most manpower specialists accept the crucial role of education in this process of preparing individuals for higher-level jobs in an economy, it is useful to begin this examination of the South African educational scene by restating the brief description of the country's educational system that appeared in the Report for the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa. The report reminded us that:

"The salient feature of education in South Africa is the differential pattern of educational development of the different race groups. On the one hand, Whites receive a very high level of education, that is comparable with the best in the industrialized world. On the other hand, Black education is characterized largely by an inequitable allocation of resources, overcrowded classrooms, high drop-out rates and insufficient

- 1 6 -

and poorly qualified teachers, and it is generally considerd by Blacks to be inferior and designed to confine them to lower-class occupations. There are differences even within Black education, with African education showing the greatest degree of underdevelopment.M 11/

There are two approaches that one can use in examining the specific needs for advanced education and training among Black South Africans. The first stems from the desire to ensure that Blacks are moving towards a position of greater equity in their access to higher-level positions in the economy and to the educational institutions that would qualify them for these jobs. As indicated above, the need for higher-level education and training of Blacks is also an economic necessity, if the country is to be competitive and not suffer a decline in its standard of living because of insufficient and poorly-qualified individuals to staff the higher levels of its industrial structure. The second is to try and project for the future the kind of high-level skills that the country will need in a post-apartheid situation.

While the first task would not be too difficult to carry out, it is virtually impossible to undertake the second in any precise manner, for a number of reasons. One of these is the fact that the practice of manpower planning by which it was believed that one could forecast manpower requirements based on such information as the emerging industrial structure of an economy, has been found to be very unreliable. In fact, the technique has often been compared to crystal ball gazing. In addition, as Neville Alexander pointed out in the Report for the Second Carnegie Inquiry "there is little point trying to describe educational strategies in a post-apartheid South Africa/Azania. There are simply too many variables to permit even an approximate prediction". 12/ So the focus in this section will be on educational development aimed at reducing the inequalities between Whites and Blacks enroled in the tertiary-level educational institutions.

Efforts to correct the racial imbalance at the tertiary-level educational institutions would directly involve providing additional opportunities for educating and training more qualified Blacks for higher-level jobs. One must therefore begin by examining the current situation of Blacks in the tertiary-level educational institutions, identify what are the major problems they face and see what strategies can be adopted to overcome these. As indicated above, the very poor representation of Blacks in these higher and middle-level occupations cannot be easily realized, unless there is a radical increase in the number of Black students who are studying in these various fields in the higher-level educational institutions in the country. 13/

Africans are still mostly unskilled workers, despite the advances that have taken place over the recent past in their training and enrollments in the various educational institutions, especially when qualified labour was in short supply. The fairly strong economic growth that occurred in 1980 (5.6 per cent), 1981 (4.8 per cent) and 1984 (5.1 per cent) created certain manpower shortages for skilled, middle- and higher-level personnel and this forced a relaxation of the colour bar in some skilled jobs and professions, creating more employment opportunities for Blacks at these levels of occupational structure. This even brought increased expenditure on Black education. But there did not develop any policy or a clear sense of direction as to the implications of some economic growth for additional manpower that

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could not be met from the pool of White workers, and ultimately of the role of Blacks within the occupational and social hierarchy of the South African society. In fact, the response by the South African Government in trying to meet the increased demand for trained personnel during periods of rapid economic growth was to try to attract skilled White immigrants from other countries, so that between 1976 and 1984 about 15.9 per cent of the immigrants to South Africa fell into the category of professional, managerial and administrative personnel. But such immigration has fallen off dramatically with recent developments in the political situation of the country and it is increasingly being realized that, in the future, such skill shortages will have to be met from the internal pool of labour.

Another point to be noted is that the gains achieved by the Black labour force in filling higher-level positions never represented a permanent advance for them up the occupational hierarchy. ïhis can be seen in the fact that during the lean years, when economic growth was negative, such as in 1982 (-0.8 per cent), 1983 (-2.1 per cent) and 1985 (1.2 per cent), the temporary progress that Blacks had made suffered a setback. Here, one is reminded of a recent study done by a staff member of the South African Institute on Race Relations, in which attention was drawn to the fact that the number of new entrants into apprenticeship training had decreased from 14,497 in 1982 to 8,185 in 1987, while the total number of apprentices in training had also fallen by 37 per cent between 1984 and 1988. In this situation, it was the potential Black apprentices who were likely to suffer most in terms of getting accepted or rejected for such training. The point is that even though expenditure on education for Blacks was rising, this did not necessarily assure them of an improved position in the occupational hierarchy of the South African labour force. This indicates that increases in economic opportunities for Blacks are not likely to be permanent unless they are accompanied by a sharing of political power that would put them in a better position to defend the progress they might have made over the years in improving their economic status. In addition to the legal restrictions that barred Blacks from certain occupations in South Africa, one of the factors that reinforced their exclusion from higher-level positions was their low representation in the institutions of higher education.

III. TERTIARY-LEVEL FJXJCATTON FOR BLACKS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Tertiary-level education is usually crucial for individuals who are expecting to fill higher-level jobs in the modern sector of the economy and therefore the next step would be to look at the enrolments of Blacks compared with that of Whites in the three main types of tertiary-level educational institutions in South Africa: the universities, the technikons and the teachers' colleges. The purpose is to assess how heavily underrepresented Blacks were in these institutions compared with Whites. The point underlying this examination is to see whether enough Blacks are being trained to fill these positions with competency and efficiency and what can be done to ensure that the supply needed in the future would be forthcoming.

A. Universities

With the electoral triumph of the National Party in the late 1940s, the

18

new Government introduced a strict segregationist policy icon higher educational institutions in South Africa and created in 1959 a number of state-administered universities specifically for Africans, Coloureds and Indians. In addition, it denied the right to all universities to admit students from outside their ascribed racial group without special permission from the Government. The Afrikaans universities began to enjoy excellent facilities during this period because of the generous policies that the new Government adopted towards them. Their faculty-student ratio was low - it was, for example, 1:14 at Pretoria University - and many of them were able to develop a full range of graduate and professional schools. The admission of women in these universities increased and their graduates, who were all Whites, had easy access to careers in the civil service. These universities were, however, almost entirely closed to Black students, although some minimal openings began to appear by the 1980s. For example, in 1981, the Rand Afrikaans University at Johannesburg had 11 Black graduate students and held upgrading classes for Black teachers. Stellenbosch University, which is endowed with a "panoply of quality research institutes", was somewhat more open and in 1977 it admitted a limited number of Blacks - mostly Black graduate students.

On the other hand, the ethnic universities (Vblksuniversiteit) that were created as part of the apartheid policy of the South African Government were met with derision and resistance from the time they were opened. Three of them were physically located in remote areas, far away from the major population centres and well out in the "African bush". Further, the quality of the work done in these universities left much to be desired, as is suggested by the fact that about 60 per cent of the Black students at the University of the North in Turfloop tended to drop out after their first year of studies. Although this situation might have improved somewhat, the drop-out rates at these universities are still very high and the time it takes their students to graduate is still substantially longer than the expected three years. In addition, not only are these ethnic universities physically far away from the main population centres, but they are also remote from the mainstream of intellectual life in South Africa. Further, their teaching staff, and in some cases even the administration, have remained predominantly White (still over 70 per cent in 1980) and mostly Afrikaners who were usually unable to find jobs in the academic mainstream of the South African universities. This no doubt had a stifling effect not only on the intellectual activities and the quality of academic work of these institutions but also on the cultural life of the Black students who attended them.

In 1974, African enrolment in universities in South Africa was only under 8 per cent of the total enrolment by Whites despite the fact that the former group then made up about three quarters of the total population of the country. This relative exclusion of the largest sector of the population from the universities helped account for the fact that even a country like Spain, which was then economically not very developed, had nearly twice the proportion of its population in tertiary-level educational institutions compared with South Africa. The point here is that the low percentage of individuals receiving higher-level education and training was largely due to the fact that the major population group, the Blacks, was heavily underrepresented among those who were being educated at a level at which they could qualify for the professional, technical and managerial jobs on the

_ iy _

labour market.

There has, however, been a substantial overall increase in the number of students who are enrolled full-time at universities in the country, from 71,700 in 1975 to 100,245 in 1988. This increase has been marked among all ethnic groups, but was particularly noticeable among Blacks. Nevertheless, the Africans still remained heavily underrepresented at this level of the educational system, compared with White students. If university students in the so-called "independent11 States of South Africa were included in the 1986 figures, one would find that White students were responsible for over 60 per cent of the enrolment at universities that year, while Black students accounted for only 18 per cent. By the following year, the percentage of university students who were White fell and the figure dropped progressively from 83 per cent in 1975 to 65 per cent in 1985, and to 58.5 per cent in 1987. In 1988, there were 74,700 Black students enroled in universities, including those taking part-time tuition through distance education from the University of South Africa. The White students, however, were almost twice that number - 154,552. In that year, the number of White students at universities still represented 3.11 per cent, while Africans represented only 0.26 per cent of their respective population group. So, while the proportional disparity between these two groups in the university population in South Africa is being reduced, it still remains quite wide. In fact, the number of Whites who received bachelors' degrees also rose by about 19.4 per cent between 1984/85 and 1987/88 and they continued to dominate such key fields of study as engineering, science and commerce. In 1984/85, White graduates in these fields numbered 1,023, 1,822 and 986 respectively.

In addition to their low representation in the universities, the performance of Black students at these institutions also remained poor and their repetition rates were also high, partly owing to their poorer matriculation results and the inadequate resources available in the institutions that most of them attend. The ethnic universities, such as the University of Fort Hare in Ciskei, often commented on the poorer quality of secondary education that their Black students had received and, as a consequence, their unpreparedness in such subject areas as mathematics, science and English. The University of the Transkei also saw a need to introduce a fourth year of university studies for its students doing their first degrees. This was as a result of the high failure rates amounting to 55 to 60 per cent, especially for those studying in such fields as the sciences, mathematics or public administration. For example, of 350 students who entered the sciences, only about 50 graduated after three years of study while only another 50 did so after an additional year. In many ways, this should not be too surprising when one considers the limited amount of educational facilities that were available at some of these universities, including a library with only 25,000 volumes.

For a number of reasons, including their failure to get into the better White universities, a substantial number of Black students - 50 per cent in the early 1980s - were enroled in the distance education programme offered by the University of South Africa. There again, however, poor academic background also affects academic performance and about 50 per cent of students drop out in the first year, with only about 20 to 25 per cent completing their degrees within six to seven years.

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Blacks aspiring to higher education have continued to face a number of formidable hurdles, including legal, financial and academic ones. Therefore, all of these need to be addressed œrKzurrently if equal participation of Africans in the country's institutions of higher education is to be assured in order to allow them to qualify for the professional, scientific and managerial jobs in the labour force. Efforts to upgrade the quality of education at these universities have been made by various groups, including the Ford Foundation and the South African Institute of Race Relations. The former organization has helped with the upgrading of Black faculty, while the latter has conducted weekend classes for secondary school students and workshops for Black teachers. This is to raise the academic quality of the Black students who seek to enter the universities. In addition, it has organized specially tailored programmes for Black university students. The Swiss Government has also provided bursaries for Black students and so has the Canadian Government through the Canadian International Development Agency (dDA). The German Government too has made a contribution in this area and so have the Mobil Corporation and the Genesis Foundation.

What is, however, most obvious is that there is a need for a new structure of higher education in South Africa and for new national priorities in this field. One of the major indirect goals of the universities in the country should be the development of a sense of a common national identity among the students. They should also provide the students with the ability to criticize, to analyze and to be creative. Therefore, the universities in South Africa need to be thrown open to all students, irrespective of their ethnicity - in fact, there should be an end to all effective racial segregation at the universities in South Africa. White/Black contact at this crucial level of the educational system is still virtually missing. Quick change in this area would be important for the future of South Africa since universities can prove to be valuable laboratories for the development of understanding and of amicable human relationships among the potential elites of the country, that would eventually be drawn from across the racial lines. While recently South African universities have made certain moves in this direction, there is still a long way to go.

The African students would also obviously prefer to see the emergence of non-racial institutions of higher education. For example, in a survey of 500 African students, 75 per cent expressed preference for attending a White institution and 87 per cent of them rejected the concept of segregated Black urban universities. Both groups, however, emphasized the importance of education provided by the traditional White universities and the social contacts that were likely to be made at a racially mixed institution.

A few years ago, Mr. Oppenheimer of the Anglo American Corporation noted that, while the Government of South Africa had pledged itself to provide equal education and training for all racial groups, the raté of advancement in this direction was painfully slow and gross inequalities continued to persist years after the declaration of intent on this issue. 9/ He identified the following as some of the factors obstructing progress in this area: the high degree of inequality in the teacher-pupil ratios between Black and White schools; the low qualifications of the Black teachers as compared with their White counterparts; and the continued racial prejudice, which had resulted in "a surplus of school places in some institutions, such as the well-equipped

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technical colleges and technikons for Whites, at a time when there is a critical shortage of such facilities for Blacks". 9/ He also drew attention to the additional cost involved in building and staffing separate institutions for Blacks, even though they were usually ill-equipped and understaffed, with poorly qualified teachers. He therefore suggested that the Government needed to adept "an altogether more urgent bolder approach" 9/ if it was serious in reaching its stated educational goals for the Black population.

However, while speed is important in this process, there is also need for imaginative programmes to achieve the educational goals of greater equality of access to higher-level jobs on the labour market. Hence, the emphasis on a "bolder approach" involving affirmative action and compensatory educational programmes is needed if these stated objectives are to be achieved over a reasonable time span. 14/ Further, a system of education that is said to be equal but still has separate facilities for Blacks and Whites cannot provide full equality of opportunity for Africans so as to enable them to enter the higher echelons of the labour market.

The universities, even the "autonomous" ones, have suffered from political constraints that have seriously affected their freedom and even the quality of their academic work. For example, the Transvaal provincial government threatened to cancel a contract with the University of Witwatersrand over a university policy with which it did not agree. As a result, a team from the United States-South African Leader Exchange Program visited the country in the 1980s and noted that "timidity, safe scholarship and mediocrity are inevitable tendencies in such a climate of overt political pressure". One of the results has been the "curtailment of individual liberty". However, it would be an exaggeration to imply that White South African universities had lost all their academic freedom. But their intellectual life has been affected and there is a need for greater freedom in their academic research activities that would allow cooperation not only among these universities but also with the Black universities.

While this would be necessary to improve the vibrancy of the South African universities, it is important that the Government set out guidelines to indicate the desirability of opening these traditional White universities to Black students and to indicate as soon as possible targets at which they might aim over a given period of time. While this might be seen as an infringement of the rights and freedom of the universities, it must be pointed out that without such guidelines and a means of monitoring them, or without rewarding those that have achieved their goal, the admission of Blacks to the traditionally prestigious White universities is not likely to move beyond a token level. The need for freedom to be given to the universities to admit students on the grounds of academic merit is important and approval should not rest with the Government. Such need has been particularly felt among the more "progressive" universities which have always attempted to maintain a degree of openness, even when the Government was strongly opposed to the admission of students of other races to White universities.

There have been a number of recent proposals for change within the South African academic scene but many of them are still far from being implemented. An interesting feature is that the once open universities of the Witwatersrand and Cape Town (which were, like all others, forbidden to accept Black students

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without the prior permission of the Government) and even the previously "closed" universities, such as Stellenbosch, have been increasingly opening their doors to Black students. However, most of these students have been moving to English-speaking White universities. Some universities, such as Witwatersrand, already have plans to increase substantially their multiracial enrolment and to appoint more Black faculty and other senior staff. The University of Cape Town has initiated a "cadet" scheme that attempts to provide special academic support to Black students, along with financial assistance from prospective employers. Here again, one sees that some progress is being made in the direction of increased admission of Black students to White universities. But despite these developments, the Black universities still aaxsoraonodate over 80 per cent of Black students enroled full time in the universities in South Africa.

It is possible that even if universities were allowed to admit students of any ethnic group, the Afrikaans-speaking universities might be less willing to open their doors to Black students. This has been obvious from the fact that they were not very willing to accept even Coloured students, much less African ones, even though the Government might have been prepared to allow them to do so under the restricted system of admissions. They have generally remained racially homogeneous and closed to Black students. For example, up to 1982, there were no Black students at the University of Pretoria. On the other hand, one of the reasons for this might have been that the great majority of Black students preferred to attend the English-speaking universities. Therefore, instead of establishing compulsory quotas for Black students at White universities, an incentive scheme could be developed through the system of university financing that would make it attractive for White universities to try to enrol more Black students. This use of some "affirmative action" to get Black students into White universities, especially into certain key areas of study in which they are inadequately represented at present, including computer science, engineering, etc., needs to be given special consideration. Therefore, a policy needs to be introduced and implemented in this area that would facilitate a steady and substantial increase in the number of Black students in the more prestigious White universities.

There is also a need, at least in the short run, for remedial and bridging programmes to be developed for Black students who are not as well prepared as they should be to pursue certain subjects, such as science and mathematics, at the university level. The institutions that accept more Black students would have to provide special tuition for them and the Government needs to recognize this in its funding arrangements. This would not be so much an act of positive discrimination, but an attempt to remedy past neglect of the education of the Black population. The alternative would be to wait until the secondary schools and teachers for Blacks have improved so that they can then get adequate tutoring in these subjects, and that would not be acceptable.

Another development among universities that needs to be encouraged is the strengthening of their links with the communities where they are located. It must be recognized that the provision of opportunities for Blacks to enter what was previously the White-dominated sector of the job market would be one way of ensuring that income differentials between the more educated Blacks and Whites might diminish. But this will not necessarily help the rank and file of the Black population. There is also need for students to make a ccannmitment

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to work in the poorer Black ccraraunities. Hie establishment of strong links between the universities and the local conununities might be one way of helping prepare students for such a goal. In addition, the work of the universities in these communities is likely to be an important contribution in its own right since it might help to train and shore up the existing local leadership structures by providing non-formal or even more formal training programmes aimed at improving the local human resource infrastructures.

Closer links also need to be established between South African universities and bilateral exchanges of staff encouraged. In addition, such voluntary linking should be extended between the White and the Black universities since this would also help to improve improve the quality of work that the latter offer and to infuse the former with a greater understanding of how to meet the needs of the increasing Black student population.

For many reasons, including the cultural development of the various Black groups in South Africa, the former ethnic universities should not be closed, but instead they need to become open to all groups in the society. This would call for efforts to improve the facilities and the quality of instruction offered at these institutions. However, while efforts are being made in this direction, it is likely, for a considerable time to come, that the present system of stratification among universities in South Africa will persist and that graduates from the more prestigious ones will continue to enjoy better jobs and higher incomes than others. Even the marketplace is unlikely to correct this situation, as can be seen from experience with prestigious universities all over the world, including those in the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Ehilippines, etc. In 1989, it was reported that the White universities, with the exception of the Rand Afrikaans University, had begun to open some of their residences to Black students so as to facilitate their admission to these institutions.

While the throwing open of White universities to Blacks is a step in the right direction, this in itself will not result in a substantial increase in Black representation at these institutions. For example, while English-medium universities, such as Cape Town, Witwatersrand, Rhodes and Natal, originally refrained from imposing a direct colour bar, few Blacks were able to qualify for admission or could afford to finance their studies at these universities. So, as late as 1957, Black students comprised no more than 6 per cent of the student body at the country's principal open universities - Cape Town and Witwatersrand. There are therefore factors other than the introduction of an open admission policy that could affect the percentage of Black students attending the obviously more prestigious White universities.

In summary, there is need for much to be done to encourage the effective opening up of the traditional White universities to make them truly multiracial. Therefore, if the Government is really interested in seeing the South African universities effectively become integrated, it should develop policies and guidelines in this field that would encourage them to move as rapidly as possible in that direction. But to do this effectively and within the shortest possible timespan, special financial help would be needed from the Government.

A positive incentive can therefore be provided for these universities by

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the voting of additional funds for those with specified percentages of Black students, with additional grants being given for faculties, such as engineering, computing science, commerce and others that succeed in attracting more Black students to study in these departments. This additional funding would in effect be a recognition of the fact that, because of the poorer quality of education that many of the Black students have received in the past, the institutions might initially have to provide special academic help for them, at least in the short run. Eventually, as the quality of Black teachers in the schools improves, and as a consequence the quality of the education provided to Black students, the need for extra grants to the universities could gradually be phased out.

This would obviously be a valuable beginning, but for it to be effective it has to be supplemented by other measures. Experience has shown that even when there are unutilized places available at White institutions, for a number of reasons, they do not become readily accessible to Black students. For example, because of the traditional segregation of residential areas, Black students find it more difficult to live at home and attend these universities. Therefore, a sufficient supply of affordable housing would have to be provided on the university campus to accommodate the extra number of students likely to enrol in these univeersities after an effective change in their admission policy. These traditionally White universities would also need to convert their existing housing into interracial facilities. This would obviate the need for these students to commute each day to and from their homes, which might be long distances from the campus. It should be noted that, in the past, when the Government had to grant permission for Black students to enrol in White universities, it often refused that permission because this would have necessitated that Black students reside on campus. Therefore, a change in university admissions policy/ without steps taken to provide interracial housing on the campuses, would not be effective in bringing about this desired change. Some of the traditional White universities have begun to make efforts to overcome this problem and so far all White universities, with the exception of the Rand Afrikaans University, provided accommodation for some Black students by declaring at least one or more of their hostels as interracial.

There must also be financial resources available in the form of loans or grants that would make it easier for Black students to afford the cost of higher education. Secondly, while the present segmented labour market for Black and White labour might legally disappear, it would be a long time before such changes could effectively be implemented in bringing about an equality of incomes among all races for jobs of equal value on the labour market, especially in the private sector.

There is also need for a number of lower-paying, but important jobs to be filled, especially serving the Black population, and these are not likely to be attractive to the best Black university students unless the economic returns are comparable to similar positions elsewhere in the society. In other words, Black students, like all others, are likely to take up those fields of study in which the rates of return on their investment are the highest. This is likely to lead to a situation where jobs with a high social, but a somewhat lower rate of individual return, would not be attractive to the best minds among Black students. To alleviate this problem, it is suggesterd

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that, if a loan scheme is to be used to help Blacks finance their tertiary-level education, the repayments, including the interest charged for such loans, should be related to the income levels of the graduates. This would, to same extent, make these important, but financially less rewarding jobs more attractive to students. Such a scheme can no doubt be worked out through the income tax system.

In addition, although university fees are low, they are still considered relatively high for most Blacks. Their lower incomes, based largely on their race, and the unavailability of scholarships often put a greater economic strain on Black students. It is, however, estimated that by the year 2000 there are likely to be 1 million African students attending South African universities. If this is to happen and the quality of the education received by the Blacks is to be sound, then means will have to be found to offer financial assistance to these students.

The effective conversion of all universities in South Africa, including the ethnic universities, is being suggested. But this would not mean that some universities would not continue to service the needs of particular groups. The stigma of ethnic universities that were set up as part of the apartheid policy of the South African Government made it difficult for them to achieve high academic prestige or establish links with other universities abroad. The effective removal of their mandate to meet the higher educational needs of a particular ethnic group would gradually help them to improve their status within the academic community in general, both inside and outside South Africa. While the ethnic universities would no longer draw their students from any one ethnic group, they could be charged with the specific function of helping to develop and make available to all South Africans aspects of the culture of the group or groups for which they had been originally intended. For example, they should be given every help and opportunity to further the development of the history, language and the literature of these groups, along with various other art forms, including music, dance, theatre etc.

Another factor that would help raise the prestige of these institutions is to encourage them to establish academic links with the more prestigious White universities overseas. Faculty exchanges can also be actively encouraged by links with universities in the neighbouring States.

The academic support programmes started in the early 1980s have tended to develop into full-blown university programmes and have become very expensive. Offering comparable programmes outside the universities is likely to help reduce their costs. Therefore, another suggestion that might be made is for the Government to establish community colleges that, following the North American pattern, could provide terminal courses that prepare students for specific occupations, in addition to offering university credit transfer courses for students transfering to the universities. These colleges would not only became a bridge to the universities, but could help ease the pressure on them, if they suddenly had to meet the need for new placement following the elimination of racial barriers at other institutions. Further, because of their lower costs and their tendency to focus on teaching rather than research, the community colleges might be in a better position to provide better quality upgrading courses for students whose performance in certain subjects needs to be improved, before being allowed to take regular university

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courses in their respective fields.

B. Technical and vocational education

Here again, there is a substantial difference between the number of Whites and Blacks who have completed and are currently taking both technician and craft-level courses. In 1985, there were 31,948 Whites in post-matriculation courses in the technikons, as compared with 2,698 Blacks, who then made up only 6.6 per cent of all technxkon enrolment. In the following year, while 5,597 diplomas or certificates were awarded by the various technikons in the country, 872 (15 per cent) of these went to Africans. The distribution of their fields of study was as follows:

Percentage

Business, commerce and managerial sciences 15.4 Social sciences 13.1 Health care and health sciences 10.6 Education 8.0 Psychology 7.5 Engineering and engineering technology 5.3 Mathematical sciences 1.8 Computer science and data processing 1.8 Others 36.5

During 1988, the technikons had a total enrolment of 43,802 Whites and 2,599 Blacks. A similar picture emerges if one looks at other levels of technical and craft training. In 1983, of the total number of students in "technical education and training", about 82 per cent were Whites, while only 7.2 per cent were Africans. In addition, if one looks at the relative position of Whites and Africans being trained at the craft level, one sees that while the number of White apprentices fluctuated around 9,250 between 1980 and 1985, the number of African apprentices rose from only 82 to 666 during these years. In 1985, only 5 per cent of all registered apprentices were Black, though since then their position has moved moved up somewhat to 15 per cent of all registered apprentices.

One of the main reasons for the much lower number of Blacks being trained as technologists, technicians and craftsmen was the fact that there were, and still are, so few technical education institutions open to them. For example, while there are currently eight technikons for Whites, there are only two for the Blacks (excluding Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei). In addition, in 1988, there were 78 tehcnical colleges for Whites offering vocation training, as against 20 for Africans (excluding Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei).

Another reason for the limited numbers of Blacks doing technical studies is that in many industries the labour market is still farily rigidly segmented by race, even though such a basis for job allocation has been legally dropped. Therefore, the opportunities that Blacks have of securing positions as technicians and even as skilled craftsmen are limited and, as a result, young Blacks lack examples or appropriate role models that they could aspire to emulate.

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Yet another reason for the poor representation of Africans, especially among those doing technician-level training, is that limited numbers of them do well in such subjects as science and mathematics. For example, in 1988, a total of 5,652 African candidates took the Department of Education and Training standard 10 examination in mathematics (higher grade) and of these 84 per cent failed. Similarly, 5,048 entered for physical science (higher grade) and of these 89 per cent failed.

A number of measures can be undertaken in order to attract a greater number of Africans to technical jobs. First, there is the need for better preparation of African secondary school students in such fields as science and mathematics. Therefore, attention must be directed at improving the general level of the education that the Blacks receive at the secondary, and even at the primary level.

Secondly, the existing technikons and technical colleges, that are expensive institutions to build, need to be thrown open to all students on a non-racial basis. This is particularly necessary in view of the fact that in the future there is going to be an increasing number of vacant places in the White institutions and a growing demand for such training from the Black population. Thirdly, the need for more technical training institutes seems to be clear, especially as South Africa comes to play an increasingly important role in the economy of southern Africa, as is likely to happen as the country moves to abolish apartheid. Fourthly, more active career guidance should be provided for Africans in secondary schools in order to encourage them to see the value of such training, compared with the traditional general arts programmes that they had tended to opt for in the past.

C. Teachers and teacher training

Most secondary school teachers in South Africa receive their education and training at universities that sometimes cooperate with technikons and other institutions in providing training in certain specialized fields. A few primary school teachers who already have some basic professional training are also registered for courses at universities. An attempt will now be made to look at those who attend the teachers' colleges. Generally, the training of White teachers is done at the provincial colleges of education. In 1988, there were 18 such colleges where 12,391 primary school teachers were being trained. The staff-student ratio was slightly less than 1:10. However, with the decline in the White student population, the White teachers' colleges are not as fully utilized as they were a decade ago. Between 1987 and 1989, enrolments in these colleges declined by 27 per cent and there is the possibility that some of them might be closed (three in Natal were under threat of closure in 1988), even though the demand for Black teachers is rising rapidly.

The number of African teachers in training has been increasing. Judging from the fact that all programmes where admission depended only on pre-standard 10 education, followed by two years of teacher training, have been phased out, there is hopefully an improvement in the quality of the education they receive. These have now been replaced by four new courses, all of which require a standard 10 education, plus three years of training. This has resulted in a reduction of the percentage of African teachers with less

_ 28 _

than a standard 10 basic education, from 70 to 40 per cent in 1988.

In 1985, the number of African students who obtained their first degrees in education or a related field in preparation for teaching was 2,945; another 7,921 obtained diplomas of various types. In addition, there has been a steady rise in the numbers of African teachers being trained in the teacher-training colleges of the Department of Education and Training. For example, while the total enrolment of White students in colleges of education has increased from about 11,800 in 1970 to 13,600 in 1987 - a 15 per cent increase in 17 years - the corresponding number of Black students (7,500 in 1970 and 21,300 in 1987) presents a 184 per cent increase during the same time. As a result, the percentage of Whites in teacher-training colleges fell from 51.5 per cent in 1970 to 31.3 per cent in 1987. In 1989, there were 39 teacher-training colleges for Africans with an enrolment of 22,322 students. This represented a continuing and substantial increase in the enrolments in African teacher training colleges, even over the two previous years.

But the demand for teachers is likely to increase further. It is estimated that, to provide compulsory education for all by the year 2000, there will be need for at least another 350,000 new teachers to cope with the increased school enrolment among Black students. In addition, only one fifth of teachers currently hold the minimum qualifications required by the Department of Education and Training and figures from a study by the South African Institute on Race Relations show that there was a need for 5,531 primary and 1,350 secondary school teachers in the public and farm schools in 1988, representing an additional shortage of 27 per cent of teaching staff over 1987. Efforts will also have to be made to raise the professional and academic qualifications of these teachers.

To meet all these needs, a substantial expansion in the teacher-training facilities, far beyond those now available for Black teachers would be needed. One of the important steps that can be taken immediately is to throw open all the teacher training-colleges to students from all racial groups. With the marked decline in the number of White teachers in training, this step would not incur any additional capital costs because there are currently many vacant places in the White teachers' colleges. Even the marginal costs of acccmmcdating the additional number of teachers should be proportionately relatively low.

There is also a need for the establishment of a number of new teachers' colleges if the goal of compulsory universal education is to be achieved by the year 2000. Further, to staff these colleges, it is necessary to prepare a sufficient number of Black teacher educators who are up-to-date in terms of their teaching strategies and school management techniques. Finally, there need to be stronger links between the teachers' colleges and their local communities so as to give their students a greater exposure to the realities of children growing up in the economically very depressed circumstances that most of them currently face. This would better equip these teachers to plan the content of their curriculum more realistically, by trying to meet the specific needs of the children whom they are teaching and not simply those about whom they have learnt in the textbooks.

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D. Educational background of women

The segmentation of the South African labour market occurs by both race and sex and, as a result, there is a substantial imbalance between men and women in the various jobs in the economy. Generally, women are poorly represented in the jobs that carry high social status or those requiring technical or scientific skills. Nevertheless, they comprise about two thirds of the teaching profession in the country. African women are even more poorly represented in senior positions than their White counterparts though, in the rural areas in particular, they tend to be the heads of households, managing the family economy.

Among the Whites attending primary and secondary schools in 1988, females made up 49.5 per cent and 49.2 per cent of the school population at each of these levels, respectively. White women with matriculation certificates rose from 23.2 per cent in 1960 to 51.3 per cent in 1985. Even at the universities, women comprised 42.2 per cent of the total enrolment of all Whites in 1988. But it was in the fields of study that the differences were very marked. For example, White women made up 58.1 per cent of the White students enroled in the "human sciences" and 50.9 per cent in the "natural sciences". They only accounted for 29 per cent of enrolments in commerce, 24.8 per.cent in medicine, 14.0 per cent in agriculture and 3.6 per cent in engineering. Women in the technikons made up 41.4 per cent of Whites enroled, though their representation was stronger in the secondary-level rather than the tertiary-level courses (50.8 vs 36.4 per cent). Of the White sudents who were doing higher degrees (Masters and FhDs), 27.4 per cent were women. In 1988, 74.2 per cent of those enroled in White teachers' colleges were women.

Among the Africans, the enrolment of females as a percentage of the Black population in the primary and secondary schools improved somewhat between 1960 and 1986, especially at the higher secondary school level. In 1960, females made up 48.9 percent of the lower primary (years 1-4, i.e., up to standard 1) school enrolment, 53 per cent of the higher primary (standard 3-6), 52.5 per cent of the lower secondary (standard 6-8) but only 27 per cent of the higher secondary enrolment (standard 9-10). By 1986, the corresponding figures were 48.8, 52.2, 55.2 and 54.5 per cent respectively. The most noticeable increase obviously took place at the senior secondary school level. In fact, the representation of African girls between 15 and 19 years of age rose from 4.1 per cent in 1960 to 37.8 per cent in 1980. Similarly, African women with matriculation as a percentage of the total Black adult female population rose from 0.1 per cent in 1960 to 4.1 per cent in 1985, while the percentage of illiteracy in the group declined from 74.2 per cent in 1960 to 53.5 per cent in 1980.

On the whole, over the past few years, there has been a striking increase in the school enrolment of girls. Yet in 1980, about 25 per cent of girls between 5 and 14 years of age were not in primary schools and only 37.8 per cent of girls between 15 and 19 years of age were in secondary schools. In addition, only 15.8 per cent of African girls in secondary schools in 1985 proceeded to obtain their Senior Certificate.

There was a marked increase in the number of African women in the labour force between 1960 and 1985, despite the legal restrictions that often

_ 30.

affected their mobility« For example, their percentage in the economically active workforce rose from 23.1 per cent in 1960 to 34.3 per cent in 1985. In agriculture and manufacturing, they made up 12 and 15 per cent of those employed in these industries. By 1985, these figures had risen to 27.8 and 28.5 per cent, respectively. In commerce, their representation climbed from 23.6 per cent in 1960 to 38.6 per cent in 1980.

It should be pointed out that active efforts need to be taken to diversify the type of training that women receive so that they can begin to enter in increasing numbers other professions or fields of activity. One of the crucial factors missing, especially among Black women, is the appropriate role models for the younger Black women to emulate. This situation will change only as more of them enter various occupations. In addition, there is a need for the type of career counselling in secondary schools that will introduce girls to the range of alternative options in terms of the fields of study that they may consider pursuing outside teaching, nursing and social work.

V. INCREASING THE ENTRY OF AFRICANS INTO INSTITUTIONS OF ADVANCED EDUCATION AND TRAINING

As indicated earlier, there are a number of stumbling blocks that affect the chances of Africans securing entry into post-secondary educational institutions. Among those of direct concern to the educator is the quality of the education that African students receive at the lower levels of the educational system, particularly at the secondary level. Therefore, an attempt will be made to identify some steps that can be taken to improve the education offered at this level, so as to raise the quality of instruction available to African students. This would obviously improve their chances of entering the higher-level educational institutions. An examination of this issue will now be undertaken.

A. Improving the quality of the teaching staff

Raising the level of competence of the teachers currently employed in Black schools is very important in any attempt to improve the quality of the education that African students receive. Therefore, there is need for a more imaginative programme of in-service education aimed at raising both the academic background and the professional competence of these teachers. The present upgrading programmes for teachers, which largely depend on part-time or' short courses, are said to be having a negative impact on the teachers' work in the school because their time has to be shared between their studies and their preparation of lessons for their classes.

There is a substantial difference in the level of qualification among the teachers in schools attended by the different racial groups. In 1978, 19 per cent of African teachers did not have a teaching certificate, while the corresponding figures for other racial groups were 12.5 per cent for Coloureds, 7.3 per cent for Asians and 3.4 per cent for Whites. About 84.7 per cent of these African teachers (10,628) had only a standard 8 (grade 10) education, while the corresponding percentages for Coloureds was 63.4 per cent, for Asians 40 per cent and for Whites nil. If we look at those who had a teaching certificate in the same year, we would find that 81.4 per cent of

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the "trained" African teachers had less than a standard 8 (grade 10) basic education as against 61.2 among the Coloureds, 13.3 per cent among the Asians and none among the Whites.

Only about 25 per cent of African teachers had a university degree as recently as the early 1980s, while about two thirds of all White teachers were similarly qualified. In addition, while nearly all White teachers had a matriculation certificate and had undergone a teacher-education programme, under 15 per cent of African teachers had comparable qualification. In 1988, it was noted that 14 per cent of the 53,000 African teachers (including those in private schools registered with the Department of Education and Training) lacked the qualifications that the Department officially considered as the minimum requirement for anyone to enter the profession. Of these, 58 per cent had a standard 8 (grade 10) education or lower. In the "non-independent" homelands, 24 per cent of their 70,000 teachers lacked teacher-training qualifications, 6 per cent had only completed standard 6 (grade 8) and 33 per cent had reached the standard 8 (grade 10) level.

Only about a quarter of all teachers had a matriculation certificate, plus three years of training, or an appropriate university degree - the qualification that, as mentioned previously, is now considered to be the minimum for all teachers.

Research indicates that the level of teachers' qualifications has an important influence on the learning level of their students and that this is particularly marked among those pupils who come from a disadvantaged background. Therefore, the poor level of education and training among African teachers is obviously reflected in the quality of teaching to which African children are exposed. Black teachers are said to be practising "survival teaching" - they tend to avoid discussions in their classes, discourage questioning and depend on didactic teaching methods, with little, if any, participation from the students. In fact, the teaching strategies used are geared towards preparing them for their present subservient roles in the South African society. It is no wonder therefore that their pupils' level of academic performance in such key subjects as mathematics and science is very low, with a high percentage of failure. In addition, about 50 per cent of Africans who leave school at 14 years of age are said to be functionally illiterate.

One of the major challenges in trying to improve the quality of education lies in the fact that the large percentage of teaching staff for Black students in the primary or elementary schools tend, as suggested above, to be persons with limited educational background themselves. In addition, African teachers have not been well-paid, particularly in comparison with their White counterparts, and this has resulted in their lack of motivation for the job. The Reynders Commission argued that the "totally inadequate" rate of training of Black teachers and the disparity in the educational facilities available to different racial groups in the South African society was responsible for the poor quality of education that African children were receiving and for their low level of performance at examinations, which in turn excluded them from entry into higher level educational and training institutions.

The Commision called for steps to be taken to speed up the training of

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teachers and instructors, without allowing quality of their teaching to suffer.

In addition to the poor quality of teachers now available for African and Coloured students, there were major shortages of staff in certain key areas of the curriculum that ranged from 70 to 90 per cent in the sciences, mathematics and technical subjects. In the White schools, the shortages were much less acute, though not insignificant, ranging from between 20 and 50 per cent in science and mathematics. Further, with respect to the class size in the primary and secondary schools, there is the same inequality existing between schools attended by children of the different racial groups - this time in the provision of teaching staff. In 1981, in schools attended by Whites, the pupil-teacher ratio was 1:19, as opposed to 1:46 (even 1:56 according to some figures) in schools for African children, with only 16 per cent of the over 73,000 African teachers then having attained the educational level of the minimally qualified White teachers.

The lack of suitably qualified teachers and the high pupil-teacher ratio were, no doubt, key factors that contributed to the high drop-out rates and relatively poorer academic performance among Black children, resulting in what the Reynders Commission described as "an unfortunate cycle", by which poorly-educated teachers produced poorly-educated students, thereby "perpetuating mediocrity in the group whose educational improvement is essential to the development of the country". One of the members of the Commission who strongly supported the view that the high drop-out rate in Black primary schools was largely attributable to the poor quality of teaching, expressed the opinion that the situation in the Black secondary schools was even more serious because of "the explosion in numbers" that led to a further deterioration in the quality of teaching staff at that level and an increase in the drop-out rates.

There is obviously a great need to attract academically better-qualified candidates to the teaching profession. The equalization of salaries between White and Black teachers, as well as between males and females with the same level of qualification is obviously another step in the right direction. But again, this only marks the beginning of efforts to grapple with this major problem. While the increase in salaries is likely to attract more Black students with higher qualifications into the profession, unless there is a pool of Black individuals with the necessary academic qualifications to undertake the level of teacher training being provided, then there will be no marked improvement in the quality of teaching available to African students. So, one of the tasks to be undertaken in trying to improve the quality of Black teachers is to raise the academic performance of Black students in the primary and secodary schools, as well as in the institutions of higher education.

Another need is to provide a massive in-service teacher education effort, using all available means, including distance education. At the moment, South Africa does provide some facilities for the academic and professional upgrading of Black teachers "designed to improve the skills, techniques, classroom practice, insight into syllabuses and general teaching management of serving teachers". 15/ This centralized system of in-service training is provided at the College of Continuing Education at Soshanguve, under Project Alpha, launched in 1986. In 1988, it offered 706 one-̂ week courses in a

" 33 "

variety of subjects and these were attended by 8,551 teachers. There is also a decentralized in-service training programme in which the staff of the Department of Education and Training and subject advisers from the regoinal offices provide courses for local teachers. In addition, there are 14 teachers' centres in operation helping teachers improve their classroom techniques. But these efforts are inadequate to meet the overall needs of practising teachers.

The major focus of any in-service teacher education programme for Black teachers in South Africa must therefore be to raise the general level of their education, especially for those who have not been able to attain at least the matriculation standard in the subjects that they teach. This in itself calls for a more comprehensive training programme than any currently being offered to practising teachers. For those who teach in the secondary schools, a university degree or its equivalent in their teaching subjects should be considered the minimum academic qualification if such teachers are to make a strong positive impact on improving the quality of the performance of Black students in various secondary school subjects. As part of these efforts, special attention should be given to the training and retraining of teachers of mathematics, science, English and the teaching of English as a second language.

B. Enhancing the overall academic standards of the secondary schools

There is no doubt that, over the past years, there has been a substantial increase in Black enrolment in secondary schools, with the figures rising steadily from 35,000 in 1955, to 209,000 in 1974 and 658,000 in 1979. The numbers reaching standard 10 (grade 12) have also risen rapidly - from 2,938 to 31,071 between 1970 and 1980, doubling between 1975 and 1978. Between 1983 and 1988, while the number of Blacks in the secondary schools rose by 10.7 per cent per annum, the rate of increase for Whites was 1.4 per cent per annum.

In 1988, the number of African students in secondary schools reached 142,346 and if the rate of increase achieved between 1987 and 1988 continues (it rose by about 25 per cent between these years), the number of Blacks in standard 10 would rise to a figure substantially higher than the 186,922 that was originally projected for the year 2000. Even using the lower estimates, it was expected that African high school graduates would by then outnumber Whites by a ratio of 3:1. If Coloureds and Indians were added to the group, the ratio would be 4:1.

It is necessary to consider the steps that can be taken to ensure that the quality of the secondary education for Africans is, or soon will be, of the same quality as that provided for the Whites. If that happens, it can be expected that four fifths of all matriculants would be Black by the year 2000. However, so far the signs have not been very encouraging. It was already observed that the rapid expansion that was referred to above resulted in a "lowered quality of secondary education by placing impossible demands on an inadequate teaching force". 16/ This would obviously affect the proportion of Blacks who might qualify for entry into tertiary-level educational institutions.

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Another indication of the quality of education that students receive could be the high drop-out rates among Black students before they have completed 12 years of schooling. This level of education is usually regarded as the minimum requirement for further training, expecially in the economically more developed countries. Therefore, unless schools succeed in retaining more Black students as they progress up from the primary to secondary schools, Whites will continue to dominate entry into all the top level professions, such as engineering, the sciences and technology, including the positions of technicians, craftsmen and apprentices. The table below indicates the drop-out rates between 1963 and 1975, prior to the complettion of 12 years of schooling. These figures provide an idea of the enormity of the problem.

Table 5

Percentage of students from different racial groups who started in 1963 and completed 12 years of schooling by 1975

Percentage

Africans 1.96 Coloureds 4.4 Asians 22.3 Whites 58.4

Source; Al Behr, New Perspectives in South African education, Butterworths, Durban, 1984.

While this situation might have improved somewhat, the high drop-out rates among Africans still continue. Further, the secondary school results show that, even though a more selective group of Africans was reaching Standard 10 (grade 12), compared with Whites, only 43 per cent of those who took the standard 10 examination were successful, compared with a pass rate of 94 per cent among the White students. Secondly, 46 per cent of the Whites who took the standard 10 examination were able to secure their matriculation exemption, as compared with only 6.9 per cent of African students.

It may be suggested that, in addition to raising the level of professional competence among Black teachers in the secondary schools, there are other steps that can be taken to raise the level of academic performance of students receiving secondary education. First, the Government needs to equalize the expenditure on education for schools attended by various racial groups. While expenditure on Black education has been steadily rising, the per capita expenditure on White education is still about 8 to 10 times higher than the expenditure for Black education. For example, in 1982/83, the per capita expenditure for education of Blacks was R 146, while the figures for other groups were as follows: R 498 per Coloured child; R 711 per Indian child and R 1,211 per White child. Furthermore, this disparity increased between 1953/54 and 1982/83, as can be seen from the fact that, while the per capita expenditure on a Black student rose by 8.6 times during this period, the increase for Whites was 9.4 times. Similarly, while the per capita recurrent cost for the education of Black students in 1988/89 compared with Whites was

- 3 5 -

only in the ratio of 1:4.4, a different picture emerges if teachers' salaries are excluded form these calculations. If this is done, the per capita expenditures on Black students for 1988/89 was R 58, as against R 1,300 for Whites.

The Government had declared in 1980 that it was going to provide "absolutely equal standard" of education for Blacks and for Whites. But one cannot help feeling that, while some progress has been made in this direction, the Government is still dragging its feet on this issue because soon after that commitment was made, the Minister of Education warned that "the historical backlog cannot be erased overnight". So while the total allocation for education in the 1990/91 budget was 9 per cent higher than the previous year, this, in real terms, represented a decline in the amount allocated for the previous year.

A more rapid improvement in the level of educational funding available to the Black secondary schools is also likely to have a positive impact on the quality of the academic output of these schools. The often overcrowded school buildings, the poor quality of the teaching staff, and a relatively limited supply of educational materials have all had a negative impact on the quality of the education that Black students receive, resulting therefore in their poor performance at the secondary school certificate examinations. In addition, the limited expenditure on Black secondary schools has also been a factor contributing to the heavy drop-out rates among these students. There is therefore need for a more rapid implementation of the stated policy of parity of expenditure on all schoolchildren. While efforts at financial equalization are being made, as can be seen in the fact that between 1981 and 1982 there was a 51 per cent increase in the budget for Black education, they have been falling behind and need to be pursued more vigorously.

There is also need for additional capacity of the secodary school institutions, especially in the rural areas. This would not only help reduce the inequalities in educational opportunities that currently exist between students in the rural and the urban areas, but it would also contribute to a reduction of the imbalance between Black and White students at the secondary level, since a much larger percentage of the Black population lives in the rural areas. An effective reduction in the rural/urban gap in the availability of secondary educational opportunities will depend on how accessible these schools are to the students in the rural areas. Through the strategic location of new schools and the provision of facilities for transport of children to and from school, efforts will therefore have to be made to ensure that this does not become an insurmountable difficulty.

A third point to be considered is the need for additional efforts to be made to help raise the level of performance among secondary school students in such crucial areas as mathematics, science and English. This will not only improve their performance in these subjects at the matriculation examination, but at the same time, it will increase their chances of being admitted into tertiary-level educational institutions and of doing better in such crucial subject areas as engineering, electronics, management, etc. One activity that is likely to help is the provision of special summer courses for secondary school students in these subject areas. This is already being attempted by different organizations in South Africa, including some of the universities,

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but the programme needs to be expanded. The Leadership Education and Advancement Foundation has started two senior colleges that provide grade 9 and 10-level tuition and their model represents another alternative that could be followed in an effort to improve the supply of Black students for tertiary-level educational institutions.

Another effort that can be made in this direction is the introduction of special summer courses for teachers of these subjects - mathematics, science, English, teaching of English as a second language, etc. This could help raise their level of competence in these subjects and would certainly be almost immediately reflected in the improved academic performance of the students. Finally, as part of efforts to improve the academic performance of Black secondary school students, encouragement could be given to them to make some supplementary inputs into their school work activities by doing additional studies at home, along with some homework in these subjects. Such efforts could become even more productive if the schools were able to obtain the cooperation of parents. Therefore it would be helpful if schools could attempt to develop stronger community links, leading to the improvement of the academic performance of the pupils.

Fourthly, there is need for changes in the nature of the curriculum offered at the secondary level. The Ministry of Education has decided that all students must cover the same officially prescribed syllabus and take the same senior certificate examination. But, while on the surface this might seem fair, it fails to recognize the cultural bias that some of the subjects, as they are currently offered, have in favour of White students. There are obviously certain subjects for which this point is less relevant - for example, science and mathematics. But those falling within the social science areas are likely to be "culturally biased" in favour of the White students and, as a result, Black students are not likely to do as well in them.

Efforts need to be made to introduce curriculum content in some subjects that would be more in line with the cultural aspirations of the different groups in the society. For example, South African history can be written from the point of view of the dominant Whites or from the perspective of the Blacks. Alternatively, it could be prepared keeping in mind the need to maintain objectivity and weigh the contribution of both these groups to the historical development of the country. Any examinations currently in use in this field of study are likely to ignore the contribution by Blacks to the South African history, partly because there might be a lack of reading materials dealing with this issue officially approved for use in schools. The point is that the schools would generally be culturally more appealing to White students. Therefore, the development of a new curriculum that would take into account the contribution of all South Africans to the history of their country should be a priority. Hopefully, a more "unbiased" presentation of such materials would eventually be made available to all the students in the secondary schools.

V. BEYOND THE NEEDS FOR AN EDUCATED AND TRAINED ELITE

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the participation of Blacks at the higher-skill levels of the labour market and to make recxammendations on

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hew to remedy the present situation. For that reason, the paper needs to look beyond the secondary education and also examine other constraints for the entry of Blacks in higher-skill professions. Among those are:

(a) The academic performance of students at the secondary level, that is a prerequisite for them to undertake more advanced education and training. In order to improve students' performance at the secondary level, one cannot ignore the type of schooling which they received prior to their entry into the secondary schools;

(b) Secondly, it would be a mistaken strategy if the Commonwealth or any other group concentrated all their efforts on helping to meet the educational needs of the potential Black elites who will comprise a very small sector of the workforce and ignore those of the masses who are striving to overcame the stifling poverty that characterizes the disadvantaged (who are mainly Africans) in the South African society. In the recent report resulting from the Second Carnegie Inquiry, it was observed that in South Africa "poverty is deep and widespread. ... The degree of inequality is as great as in any other country in the world. Indeed, in terms of the Gini coefficient, South Africa has the highest measure of inequality of the 57 countries for which data are available". 17/ The report goes on to observe that in 1980, the proportion of the total population that was living below the ••minimum living level" was estimated to be 50 per cent. For Africans throughout the country, Simkins observed that the proportion was nearly two thirds (60.5 per cent) while for those living in the bantustans no less that 81 per cent of the households were in dire poverty. In 1980, Whites, who then made up about one sixth of the population, earned two thirds of the country's income, whilst Africans, who accounted for three quarters of the population, earned only a quarter of the income. It is therefore obvious that poverty is concentrated mostly amongst Blacks, particularly Africans, many of whom have little or no education. For example, in 1990, it was estimated that about 3.5 million African children between the ages of 5 and 19 years of age were not in school.

Furthermore, even though same wealth was trickling down to some of the middle-class Africans, the gap between the poor and the wealthy in this group has also widened considerably. The absolute number of Blacks living in poverty has risen from about 13 million to 15 million, an increase that was most marked among the very poor - if not the utterly destitute. In bantustans, the number of destitute persons has risen about six times over the period between 1960 to 1980. As a result, the report notes that "thousands of South African babies are dying of malnutrition and associated diseases; 2 million children are growing up stunted for lack of sufficient calories in one of the few countries in the world that exports food". 17/

It is therefore being suggested that the development of effective strategies to deal with poverty in South Africa constitutes the central, fundamental challenge to the society. The report then identified three "interlocking factors" that, taken together, justify the assertion that poverty in South Africa is unique. These are:

(a) The width of the gulf between the rich and the poor;

(b) The extent to which the poverty that exists is a consequence of a

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deliberate policy;

(c) The material poverty found in South Africa is reinforced by the racist policy of the Government.

Therefore, an attempt will be made to identity the educational needs of the poor and to suggest what steps might be taken to help them improve their lot in the society.

We must begin by looking at the primary education currently offered to Blacks in South Africa, especially since, judging from the current drop out rates from the school system, many of them would not receive an education beyond this level. In 1989, it was still being reported that nearly one out of every four African children who entered grade 1 did not move up to grade 2 the following year, and only 50 per cent of them reached standard 5 (grade 7) after seven years of schooling. In addition, one study found that a very high proportion of Black children did not have any books at home.

The present Government of South Africa has repudiated the premises underlying the Bantu Education Act of 1953 and openly committed itself to equality in the provision of educational facilities for all racial groups. The proposal was to develop a 10-year plan to eliminate the historical backlog in facilities that existed, especially among Africans and Coloureds. But because of the cost, it is estimated that the programme is likely to require an annual expenditure of roughly $4 billion. 16/ It is doubtful whether this goal is likely to be actively pursued in the near future.

Despite the cost, there must be a progressively more rapid implementation of compulsory universal education, especially when one remembers that primary education, as a field of investment, is said to yield a higher rate of return than expenditure on other levels of education. In addition, one should not only look at economic benefits, but also at the important social factors that can accrue from a universal programme of primary education, since this would more than compensate for the investment required to fund it. In addition, it will help reduce the heavy drop-out rates among Blacks, even from primary schools.

Special attention needs to be paid to the problem posed by farm schools for Africans in the rural areas where the standards of education are set by the White farmers. These schools need to be taken over by the State, and an attempt must be made to ensure that the quality of education that the Blacks who attend them receive would be comparable to that offered elsewhere in the country. Another matter of some concern is the language used for instructional purposes, especially during the children's early years in school. While most evidence has suggested that children learn best in their early years at school, if the medium of instruction used is the one with which they are very familiar, this does not preclude the early introduction of a second language, especially the one that is in demand by the parents and the students and the one with which many students are not entirely unfamiliar. So, while the present policy of the Government is to insist on children commencing their education in their native language, this should not be the only language offered to them within their first four years of primary schooling. Our current knowledge in this field has shown that children can be

_ 39 _

introduced to the learning of a second language even in their first grade of primary school. Since English (or, in some cases, Afrikaans) is seen by most Blacks as the desirable language for social and economic mobility, opportunities for learning it can be introduced much earlier in elementary schools, without children having to wait until the fifth year to study another language. In fact, Black parents have generally felt that this delay might handicap their children's progress and eventually their entry into secondary and tertiary educational institutions. However, the ability of schools to provide a second language in thr early years of a child's schooling would depend on the quality of the teachers available to teach the subject and particularly on their own competence in the second language.

Even the provision of equal educational funding for all racial groups, while a step in the right direction, is not enough to bring about equity of opportunity that is implied in a post-apartheid society. In addition, the measures needed to be taken to improve the professional skills of teachers that has been discussed above, will also apply to primary school teachers. But one of the most important steps towards the achievement of equality in the type of education provided for students is the opening of schools to children of all ethnic backgrounds. In effect, no one should be denied admission to a school on the grounds of race or ethnicity. This change has been resisted by some parents, and in 1986 the Minister of Education tried to defend the current practice by suggesting that he did not consider it a "form of ideological apartheid" but a legitimate effort to preserve the character of institutions that have historically been part of the cultural estate of a particular population group". This statement does not bode well for the future because the maintenance of a separate educational system that formed part of apartheid policy might be defended in its entirety on these grounds.

This brings us to the recommendation of the de Lange Commission of 1981 for the establishment of a single Department of Education to deal with educational issues of all racial groups, at the central government level. This is one way of helping ensure that the equality of educational provisions become a reality in the country. With a single administrative structure, it will become less difficult to rationalize the provision of programmes in various educational institutions, and ensure that there are no unutilized places in some institutions while there are shortages of places in the same programmes in others. The different rate of school population increase among the various racial groups will therefore be easier to handle with an integrated school system. For example, between 1979 and 1989, there were 203 White schools that had to be closed owing to poor enrolments. In 1989, there were said to be 307 with 597 vacant places in them, a vacancy rate that represented 26 per cent of all available school accommodation for Whites. On the other hand, there is a great shortage of school places for Black children and if the goal of the universal primary education is to be achieved by the year 2000, there would be the need for a substantial increase in the amount of classroom accommodation available.

To overcome this problem, the Department of Education and Training has started selectively to purchase White school buildings that have been closed, for use by African pupils. However, this matter would have been more easily solved if all the schools in a region or a district came under a single administration. In addition, the administrative costs of separate educational

~ 40 ~

systems are high and represent an inefficient use of resources. Ultimately, it adversely affects the economic development of the country because it siphons off resources into economically less-productive activities by duplicating administrative services and thereby reducing the capital required for further development projects. For example, it has been found that Namibia, which had inherited the apartheid administrative structure of its métropole, has been employing about three times as many public servants as the neighbouring country of Botswana, which has a roughly similar population size.

Another important step would be to reform the curriculum currently offered in schools at the primary level. In addition, the relevance of the instructional materials used by students must also be considered. They would need to draw from the background of the children if they are to contribute effectively towards improving the teaching process and enhancing students' learning outcomes. Hence, the production of local materials is a key factor in attempts to improve the quality of primary education in situations where such materials are not available. Some schools might even produce their own reading materials based on the work done by their pupils. This practice has proved very valuable in other countries.

It also cannot be assumed that the children's backgound is the same in the various regions of the country, a fact that nationally-produced curriculum materials tend to ignore. Therefore, consideration needs to be given to supplementing such nationally produced materials with those developed to meet regional, or even local needs. In other words, since curriculum materials should be based on students' own interests and experience, there must be facilities for production of some materials to meet the specific needs of children in different local communities. This would require that teachers not only be involved in the production of materials, but also to be knowledgeable about the ways of testing such materials to assess their suitability and appropriateness for children at different grade levels and from different environments. It is just as important that there should be enough flexibility in any curriculum, allowing the teachers to make supplementary and/or substitutive inputs of currirulum content for specific local schools. This would allow the curriculum to be more reflective of the needs and realities of the regional or local communities and lead to the more active involvement of the community in the process of curriculum development.

Finally, there is also fairly clear evidence that children's pre-schcol experiences can be an important factor in their cognitive and even their affective development. While there might be some doubts about the value of such education for the children of the more affluent middle-class groups as compared to its costs, the evidence is fairly clear that pre-schcol education can considerably assist those from the more economically deprived groups in a community. Since most Black children come from this type of background, it is valuable for the country to develop a pre-primary programme for them.

The objective of this experience will not be so much to give students a "jump start" in their academic subjects, but to provide the experiences, habits, attitudes and language skills that will help them with their studies when they enter primary schools. This is particularly valuable if the type of parental/child interaction occuring in the family tends not to be supportive of an inquiring attitude on the part of children. Through parent-teachers'

- 41 -

associations, it might be possible for teachers to help parents create the kind of atmosphere at home that will have a positive effect on student learning. Therefore, the involvement of the local communities in the provision of such education is important, especally since it could otherwise be quite costly. Parents and other community members can be trained to make a difference in pupils' primary school performance by the nature of the experiences that they provide to the children in the pre-primary educational institutions.

The schools however, would have to play an active role in helping organize parental groups to assist with the provision of pre-primary education, possibly through institutions such as parent-teachers' associations, child-welfare associations, etc. One of the difficulties that working-class children in particular experience when they first begin to attend school can be a conflict between what is learnt at home and what is taught in schools, or a lack of reinforcement of such "school knowledge" by the parents. Their cooperation in the education of their children can help to overcome this problem and the education provided at the pre-primary level could not only increase the academic achievement of the pupils but also lower significantly the rates of grade repetition. Involving parents more in the education of their children can contribute to a reduction of the conflicts that sometimes exist between the public knowledge that community members tend to share and the school knowledge that is passed on in the process of formal instruction. It could also help to increase the perceived relevance of the education that the students are receiving. The overall outcome is likely to increase the effectiveness of schools, resulting in a general improvement in the quality of the education that they provide.

The importance of this experience is even recognized by the Government, ' which in 1988 started to experiment with the Bridging Period Programme as an alternative to the more costly Pre-Service Education Programme. Another experiment in this field is the- Early Childhood Educare Centres, an additonal feature being that a meal is usually provided for the children who attend such centres. However, judging from recent developments, the interest of the Government in providing this valuable pre-school experiences for children seems to be diminishing. There are currently two colleges offering pre-school teacher training, while the diploma courses that are conducted in two colleges operated by the Department of Education and Training are being phased out. Currently, only 2.5 per cent of the children under six years of age have access to any form of "educare " and of these 68.9 per cent are White, despite the fact that Whites make only up 8.4 per cent of the total population.

As far as the situation of pre-primary education in South Africa is concerned, there were 82,084 White pupils attending such schools in 1988, of whom about 58.5 per cent were in private pre-primary schools. The fact that the government subsidy to these White pre-primary private schools increased by 3.4 times between 1985 and 1988, indicates how rapidly such education is increasing among the White population. About 6.2 per cent of White students are going to private schools subsidized by the Government and this number is likely to increase if Blacks become admitted into what were traditionally schools for Whites only. Also, White private schools were said to have always been permitted to enrol pupils from any population group. Even though the costs are usually prohibitive to most Blacks, 3.5 per cent of students enroled

- 42 -

in White private schools in 1988 were Africans and Coloureds. If the children of Whites and the Black middle class are not to have a further advantage over those of the working-class Blacks, then the provision of pre-primary education for such children is important since it can help to reduce the disadvantage at which these children will be placed on entering primary school.

A. Adult education needs

In 1980, the illiteracy rate among Africans was about 33 per cent, compared with 0.7 per cent among Whites, which meant that there were 3.3 million illiterate African adults. In 1988, it was estimated that this number had moved up to between 4 million and 4.5 million, indicating that although the illiteracy level among Blacks might be declining, the number of African illiterates in the country is actually rising. This is not surprising when it is recalled that 24 per cent of the adults in the country (mainly Africans) had no schooling, and another 30 per cent of those over 20 years of age had received six years of schooling or less, and were functionally illiterate. The number of young illiterates, i.e., those between 10 and 24 years of age, is particularly disturbing since they are currently estimated at between 2 million and 3 million. In Nkandla, in Kwa Zulu, about 35 per cent of the teenagers had never been to school.

A significant percentage of trade unionists are also illiterate and therefore the need for literacy training is particularly acute, both among them and among Black women. There is also an expressed need for adult education programmes that will focus on the training of individuals for strategic roles in community development, human rights, leadership development, industrial relations, management training and for the management of Black-led enterprises. There are said to be several hundred non-governmental organizations offering non-formal education for Black children and adults. Their number is increasing, indicating that the need in this area continues to be quite great. In addition, it was estimated in the early 1980s that between 75,000 and 100,000 individuals, mainly Blacks outside of the urban areas, were seeking pre-university level and career-oriented courses. This also suggests that there is a demand for adult education courses that could help individuals improve their career prospects and their chances of receiving more advanced training to qualify for same of the higher-level jobs in the economy.

The area of literacy and the training of literacy workers is one to which more attention needs to be paid. In addition, more emphasis should also be placed to the training of community development workers, especially in the area of management training for small-scale economic development projects. Higher educational institutions, such as the universities, should be encouraged to undertake some of their applied work related to such fields as public health, social work and community development in the poorer Black areas. In this way, they could help provide the local community leaders with non-formal training programmes aimed at improving their leadership skills in various fields.

Further, adult education courses that would allow Blacks to improve their educational and skill levels are also needed. As indicated above, many Blacks outside the urban areas were seeking pre-university level and career-oriented

- 43 -

courses and the demand has continued to increase quite substantially. The provision of courses aimed at meeting the needs of this gorup can make an important contribution to those who are employed, but are also seeking further education as the basis for promotion; to those who are unemployed and who hope by this means to acquire some more education and some skills that would help them to secure employment; and to those who have left secondary schools and want to upgrade their qualifications in order to secure entry into higher-level educational institutions.

VI. POSSIBLE COMMONWEAIJIH O0NTRIBUTI0N

The final part of the paper will deal with some policy recommendations that focus on what the Commonwealth countries might collectively do to help the Blacks in South Africa meet their variety of educational needs, specifically those for advanced education and training.

First of all, it must be recognized that the educational and even the political situation in South Africa is changing in a direction that could eventually lead towards the ending of the apartheid system. Therefore, any educational activity sponsored by the Commonwealth should have as its main objective not so much the training of a few Black South Africans for higher-level positions in the occupational hierarchy, but the facilitation of the change towards a non-racial democracy and the preparation of individuals who will also act as a catalyst for this change. It would be impossible for all the higher educational needs of Black South African to be met by Commonwealth assistance, but steps can be taken to initiate changes and programmes that will have an impact in speeding up the process.

Among the steps that can be taken are:

(a) To enable more Black South African students to undertake advanced training or acquire practical experience through "attachment" to various organizations overseas. The objective would be to widen their knowledge and experience in order to qualify them for full membership in the professions for which they have completed the academic part of their training;

(b) To help strengthen the efforts made locally to improve the quality of the tertiary level education for Blacks;

(c) To help overcome some of the barriers that Black students in South Africa face in their efforts to enter tertiary-level educational institutions;

(d) To assist the most disadvantaged groups in getting the type of education and training that would help them move out of the grinding poverty*

(e) To examine how the higher-level education and training that Black South Africans receive as a result of outside help can be enhanced, both in terms of its quality and quantity. One of the issues that arises here is the granting of more scholarships to Black South African students to undertake their professional or academic training abroad. In the light of some of the more recent developments in the country, this issue needs to be carefully looked at again. One can understand a situation where, because of political

- 44 -

repression, it was impossible for some Blacks to pursue studies for their chosen career within South Africa and therefore the provision of training facilities for them outside the country was considered necessary. This was done partly for humanitarian reasons and partly as a means of building up a cadre of young Black professionals who might be ready to move back into South Africa to hold professional and managerial positions.

At that time also, most White universities that offered some of the best programmes in a wide range of disciplines or fields of study were virtually closed to Blacks and therefore they could not easily secure access to the type of university programmes that they might have liked to pursue. But with the increased openness of most White universities to students from all racial groups and the easing of political repression in the country, it is necessary to re-examine the reasons for the continuation of longer-term overseas training for Black students from South Africa. It must be remembered that the country has a number of universities whose standards would compare favourably with any in the Commonwealth. Therefore, the point that arises is whether the funds that might be available for undergraduate degree triaining (or even training up to the Master's level) for a few Black South African students overseas might not be better spent by allowing such students to take their training at the local universities, especially since one advantage of this step is that it would help to further open these White universities to all racial groups.

The questions that need to be asked in this context are: (a) What impact would the provision of a limited number of undergraduate scholarships for a few South Africans to study overseas in various Commonwealth countries be likely to have on the current change process taking place in the country? and (b) can the money that is, and will be, spent on such scholarships be better utilized by allowing an equal number of Black South Africans to be trained locally with these funds, while at the same time increasing the impact of the programme on the change process taking place in the country? The recommendation here is that, instead of the establishment of a Commonwealth scholarship programme that would bring a few Black South Africans to study overseas, provisions could be made for Commonwealth universities to work jointly with South African tertiary-level educational institutions of their choice to develop split-site programmes that would provide for part of the training of Black South Africans done locally and the other part carried out at the participating Commonwealth university.

' There are likely to be two outcomes of such a programme. Firstly, because of the international contact that it would provide for the participating South African universities, a number of them might be willing to cooperate with such a project and as a result increase their intake of Black students, at least initially and in certain fields of study. Secondly, it might help some of the universities that are "weak" in certain areas, or have no programmes in a particular field, to build up or strengthen their work in these areas. Because a programme would have links with well-established Commonwealth universities, the graduates from these programmes are likely to enjoy ready acceptance on the job market in South Africa.

In these efforts, special attention can be given to those fields of study where Blacks are currently heavily underrepresented, such as in accountancy,

business administration, engineering, etc. To cite one example, a major reason for the limited number of Black qualified accountants currently available in South Africa is the fact that the universities that they have traditionally attended were not "accredited11 to offer accounting programmes. In this field, it should be possible for one or more Commonwealth universities with strong accountancy programmes to work with, say, one or more of the traditionally Black South African universities to develop a joint programme in accountancy for Black students. As suggested before, part of the training under this joint programme can initially be done at a South African university and part at a Commonwealth university. Then some arrangements can be made for a period of professional attachment of the accountancy graduates in firms in both countries, so that they could qualify for their final professional qualification. Eventually, the local university would take responsibility for the total programme and, as apartheid is abolished, it should be possible to arrange all the practical attachments with local firms. Such arrangements might also be possible in other fields of study where there is a great need for trained personnel.

There are many additional advantages to this type of cooperation. Split-site training, for example, would allow the students to become more familiar with the specific context in South Africa where they would have to practise their skills, while the training in a Qsmmonwealth country would develop in them an awareness of new possibilities, not only in their field of studies, but also in social and work relationships between individuals of different races. In the development of such link programmes, the need to raise the academic standards and the international respectability of the previous Black universities must be given special, but not exclusive attention.

The establishment of cooperative links between South African and Commonwealth universities might run into some initial difficulties because many members of the academic staff of the universities in the Commonwealth are, because of apartheid, still reluctant to develop links with South African universities. Therefore, as a first step, the problem of developing an atmosphere conducive to the establishment of an active cooperative relationship between higher educational institutions in South Africa and those in the Commonwealth countries will have to be addressed. The initial provision of opportunities for exchanges between these institutions must be made, especially since many of the academics in Commonwealth universities might be unaware of the more recent developments taking place on the South African educational scene. Such exchanges are, however, likely to carry more credibility if they are handled in cooperation with the various professional staff or faculty associations of different Commonwealth universities. Arrangements for exchange scholarships for doctoral-level studies could also be made and, when the time is appropriate, South Africa could be admitted into the Commonwealth Scholarship Programme, allowing such exchanges to continue.

In addition, short-term exchanges of students attending universities, technikons, teachers' colleges and technical colleges in South Africa can be encouraged, especially between South Africa and the neighbouring States of Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana. Depending on the availability of funds, exchanges with such countries as India, Mauritius and some other Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, might be encouraged as

" 4 6 "

an activity in its own right. Further, when apartheid is fully abolished, South African university students might also be invited to take part in the Commonwealth University Games.

Further, staff exchanges between higher educational institutions of the Commonwealth and the corresponding South African educational insitutions can be encouraged. This should present less difficulties if the university link arrangements referred to above are implemented. Because of the proximity to universities in the neighbouring States, such exchanges should be easier to arrange, but they should not be confined to the universities or other tertiary-level educational institutions in these areas.

More emphasis needs to be placed on short-term courses or attachments of Black South Africans working in various fields, such as journalism, trade unionism, educational administration, personnel management, etc., to agencies, firms, professional associations and other groups that have or can arrange a useful in-service programme for such short-term visits. Special attention should be paid to the needs of women in these programmes.

It would be more valuable if attachments are arranged for small groups, rather than individuals. Opportunities are provided for these groups to meet. Before their attachment begins, participants should be afforded an opportunity to meet in order to discuss their expectations from the planned programme. After their attachment, they would again need to come together to assess the results and discuss practical applications of their experience. It would also be useful if the participants would continue their contact after returning to South Africa and become agents or facilitators of further changes in their own occupational fields. There are some cases where attachments would have to be made on an individual basis, but in most cases, group study visits and workshops would prove to be more valuable for the participants.

In addition, the Canberra Commonwealth Consultation secured approval for the establishment of a Commonwealth-wide programme and a network involving non-governmental organizations to help meet the need for practical training of Black South Africans through attachment to various organizations. These efforts need to be strengthened. In addition, there should be the expectation that when the trainees return home, they would use their newly acquired skills and knowledge to assist other budding Black professionals in their field.

Another area where the Commonwealth might be able to help is in support the efforts made locally to improve the quality of the tertiary-level education for Blacks. One of the factors that affect the academic performance of Black students at the South African universities are their poor results at the matriculation examinations, particularly in such subjects as mathematics, science and English. A Commonwealth effort can be mounted allowing specialists in the teaching of these subjects to hold workshops, seminars and training courses for Black secondary school teachers in these subject areas. Such a programme could be developed in association with South African universities, technikons and teachers' colleges so that when the prograinme comes to an end, there would be sufficient momentum built up for it that it could be continued from local resources.

Another area where Commonwealth assistance might be considered is

- 4 7 -

overücming seme of the barriers that Black students in South Africa experience in their efforts to enter tertiary-level educational institutions. Since there are often few role models for Black students in many of the higher-level occupations, more attention needs to be given to the issue of occupational guidance and counselling for Black secondary school students. Here too, a Commonwealth initiative could be mounted to provide short-term training for Black secondary school teachers in this field. A number of teachers can be brought to various Commonwealth countries to undertake short courses. Additionally, specialists from the participating Commonwealth countries could conduct courses in South Africa, preferably with the active cooperationof local universities or colleges of education. Another, even better idea, but somewhat more costly, would be to combine the two approaches suggested above so that there could be an in-service programme in guidance and counselling organized for Black secondary school teachers in South Africa. On its conclusion, a number of the participants could be selected for follow-up workshops, visits or attachments in various Comonwealth countries willing to assist in providing such experience for the teachers.

Another barrier to tertiary-level education for many Black students in South Africa is financial. Because of the very low level of their parents' income, families face difficulties in providing financial support to their children to study at a university. To help overcome this hurdle, the Commonwealth could take a leading role in the establishment of a student loan bank with its initial capital provided by various Governments, private industries and personal donations. The bank would then lend the funds, (probably interest-free) to universities and technikons in South Africa that in turn would make it available on a loan basis to Black students on the understanding that it would become a revolving loan fund to which repayments would be made, say six months after the students have graduated. From then, the fund would be regarded as an interest-bearing loan to the students. This would help ensure that the loan funds would always be available for other students and the bank would not have to replenish its initial capital, though it might continue to add to it by securing additional donations to enlarge the amount of money at its disposal.

Other Commonwealth initiatives that can be taken are those that would help raise the quality of education at the secondary and the primary levels. These can include provision of short intensive course in such areas as educational supervision, school administration, English, the teaching of English as a second language, mathematics and science, the organization and administration of pre-school education programmes, curriculum development and other related fields. This can also partly be done in South Africa, with the cooperation of local universities or colleges of education and could similarly be followed up by visits of some of the participants to various Commonwealth countries to get practical experience.

Finally, the Commonwealth could help by providing courses for:

(a) The organizers and administrators of adult education programmes. There are many Commonwealth countries in Africa, particularly the United Republic of Tanzania, where such training could be undertaken;

(b) Community development workers. Here again countries such as

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India, Sri Lanka and others that have tremendous experience in trying to raise the levels of living of the poorest sections of their population through the initiation of self-help schemes can be of assistance;

(c) Agricultural extension workers. If the Government of South Africa changes its present system of land tenure and helps Blacks acquire their own farms, then there would be great need for qualified extension workers to help these farmers achieve an acceptable level of self-sufficiency from the farm production. Here again, there are many Commonwealth countries that offer assistance in this area. Zimbabwe, for example, has had quite a bit of success in helping small-scale farmers successfully establish themselves and begin to produce enough crops commercially through its Agricultural and Rural Development Authority.

In summary, it is important to emphasize that any Commonwealth effort in this field should have two major objectives. The first would be to develop programmes and activities that would help speed up the abolition of apartheid by ensuring that enough Black South Africans are being educated and trained so that the present marked differential in incomes between the different racial groups would be substantially diminished. This is likely to be achieved if Blacks are given the level of education and training that would allow them to be competitive on the job market with Whites.

The second objective should be to enable Black South Africans from the lowest socio-economic groups to get the type of education and training, both through formal and non-formal programmes, that would assist them in moving out of the grinding poverty that such large numbers of poor Blacks in South Africa experience today.

Notes

1/ It is necessary to recognize the limitations of the official statistical data provided for South Africa. First, the population of the so-called "independent" states of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei, which together comprise almost a quarter of the population of the country, is often excluded from the official data. Secondly, it has been noted that the census data undercount the African population in particular.

2/ Some data on the recent performance of the economy were obtined from the 110 publication entitled Apartheid in South Africa and Namibia, 1990.

3/ Ibid., p. 6.

4/ Fion de Vletter, "Foreign labour in the South African gold mines", in International Labour Review, 1987, vol. 126, No. 2, pp. 199-218.

5/ Apartheid in South Africa ..., pp. 23-25.

6/ Norman Levy and Fanele Mbali, Profile of Black skills: manpower distribution, education and skills in South Africa, IDO, Lusaka.

7/ Republic of South Africa, Department of Manpower Utilization, Report

_49 _

of the National Manpower Commission on high-level manpower in South Africa (Chairman: H. J. J. Renders), Pretoria, Government Report.

8/ Franklin Sonn, "Voice of the technikon", Cross Times, Special survey: education in a post-apartheid South Africa, May 1990, p. 36.

9/ Statement by the Chairman, Anglo American Corporation, Johannesburg, 30 June 1981. Quoted in John A. Marcum, Education, race and social change in South Africa, university of California Press, Berkeley, 1982, p. 10.

10/ The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa estimates that by the year 2000 the population breakdown by ethnicity in South Africa will be as follows: Whites, 5.3 million (11.1 per cent); Coloureds, 4.0 million (8.4 per cent); Asians, 1.3 million (2.7 per cent); and Africans, 36.8 million (77.8 per cent).

11/ Bill Nasson and John Samuel (editors), Report for the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, David Philip, Cape Town, 1990, p. 30.

12/ Neville Alexander, "Educational strategies for a new South Africa" in Report for the Second Carnegie Inquiry ... .

13/ Much of the data on this issue was presented in the paper entitled "Advanced education and high-level training for Black South Africans" at the Harare Consultations held in June 1989 and, as far as my information goes, will be updated for the upcoming meeting of experts. So this topic will not be dealt with specifically in the present paper, except to add to or draw some important conclusions from the present situation. It is useful to begin by noting the low representation of Africans in the various higher levels of the occupational hierarchy.

14/ Marcum, op. cit., pp. 10 and 11.

15/ Education: South Africa 1989-1990; Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, Pretoria, 1990.

16/ Marcum, op. cit., p. 17.

17/ Nasson and Samuel, op. cit., p. 4.

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Annex I

TOTAL EMPLOYMENT OF HIGH-LEVEL AND MIDDLE-LEVEL MANPOWER BY OOCÜPATIONAL GROUP, 1985

Totals and percentage distribution

Occupation Number Percentage

Engineers Scientists Technicians, technologists Medical doctors Nurses Other paramedical personnel Lawyers Educationalists Architects, quantity surveyors Ministers, priests, missionaries Accountants, auditors Agriculturalists Other professional personnel Subtotal: Professional and technical personnel

Managing directors Other managers Administrative

Subtotal: Management and administrative

Total: High-level manpower

Clerical workers Sales workers Mine workers Transport workers Supervisors Service workers Artisans and apprentices

Total: Middle-level manpower

Source: Report of the National Manpower

26 4 93 27 79 9 9

225 5 7 27 2 71

590

12 70 93

176 766

624 120 36 82 113 216 291

1 484

247 804 504 869 527 777 256 714 219 064 133 584 578

276

254 499 926

679 955

232 462 315 917 026 112 133

197

Commission, 1987,

3.42 0.63 12.19 3.63 10.57 1.27 1.21 29.43 0.68 0.92 3.54 0.34 9.33

76.96

1.60 9.19 12.25

23.04 100.00

42.06 8.12 2.45 5.59 7.62 14.56 19.62

100.00

annexure table Al.

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Annex II

PERCENTAGE OF AFRICANS, ODIOUREDS AND ASIANS CERTAIN OCCUPATIQNAL GROUPS, 1985

Engineers Scientists Technicians, technologists Medical doctors Nurses Other paramedical Lawyers Educationalists Architects, quantity surveyors Ministers, priests, missionaries Accountants, auditors Agriculturalists Other professional Managing directors Other managers Administrative

Total: High-level manpower

Clerical workers Sales workers Mine workers Transport workers Suprevisors Service workers Artisans and apprentices

Total: Middle-level manpower

Percentage

0.1 5.5 17.8 8.1 60.0 20.0 6.0 63.0 2.9 16.7 7.4 3.6 11.1 3.9 6.0 5.1

41.6

37.8 30.6 0.1 51.3 52.8 63.0 28.5

40.1

Source: Manpower surveys of the Department of Manpower Planning.