LEAP started in 2004 to address the inequalities that remain from the apartheid education policies.

- In 2003, only 28% of black matric-age cohort in South Africa graduated from high school and only 5% earned passes of a standard that would allow them to further their studies at universities. In the same year, 69% of white matric-age cohort passed matric, with 36% able to enter universities.

- One in ten white learners obtained an A-aggregate, while only one in a thousand black learners passed matric with an A-aggregate.

- In 2003 only 55 African language entrants for the final school examinations in the Western Cape achieved university entrance levels with science and maths.

South African Literacy and Numeracy Rates

- South Africa had the lowest score in the Progress in Reading Literacy Study 2006 (PIRLS) of the 41 countries tested, behind Slovenia, Iran, Indonesia and Morocco. This is despite the fact that South Africa tested Grade 5 learners whereas Grade 4 learners were tested in other countries. The test is completed in the learner’s home language (72% wrote the test in an African language). The average South African score was 302, as compared to the international average of 500.

- The results from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003 (TIMSS) showed that South African Grade 8’s scored the lowest mean maths mark and the second lowest mean science mark as compared to 46 other developed and emerging countries. South Africa scored lower than Serbia, Tunisia, Palestine, Botswana and Ghana.

- The results from the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) revealed that there is a strong positive correlation between school resources and the learners’ achievements. The difference in the Grade 6 reading scores between South Africa’s richest and poorest schools is the largest of all 15 countries rated. It also confirmed that school resources in South Africa are very unevenly distributed compared to other countries.

Quality of Teaching in South Africa

- The voluntary severance packages offered to teachers post-1996 led to many of the skilled teachers leaving the profession.

- Research in 2001 found that 27% of African learners are taught mathematics by teachers who have no maths qualification and 38% of African learners are taught science by teachers who have no science qualification.

- 50% of teachers are considered weak with respect to subject knowledge. This also leads some teachers to encourage learners to take lower-level subjects as they are easier to teach. Poor motivation, low self-esteem and weak salary incentive for teachers to better their qualifications all contribute towards this problem.

- The General Household Survey 2007 revealed that 16.5% of learners experience poor teaching or a shortage of teachers in their schools.

- With the change of teaching qualifications being offered by universities rather than teacher training colleges, the number of learners graduating with a teaching qualification has fallen from 70,000 in 1994 to 6,000 in 2006 (One third of these graduates do not intend to work in South Africa).

- An estimated 30,000 educators leave the profession each year due to resignations, retirement, medical incapacity and mortality. This rate is anticipated to increase with many teachers being lost to HIV/AIDS and others leaving the profession to accept positions that are better paid.

South African Social Reality

- Child headed households are increasing - The General Household Survey 2005 indicates that there were about 118,500 children living in a total of 66,500 child-headed households across South Africa at the time of the survey with numbers increasing as a result of the effects of HIV/AIDS.

- 70% of households have no fathers living within the homes.

- Many children are reared by grandparents.

- Crime and violence within communities is prevalent and growing.

- Substance abuse is increasing dramatically.

- Chronic poverty is usually transferred across generations (Poverty and unemployment in South Africa, Isabel Frye, Naledi, 2006). This is confirmed by the results from the 2001 census results which revealed that only 30% of children with one parent who has attained less than Grade 10 gain the Grade 12 certificate. This is compared to 84% of children who successfully complete their Grade 12 examinations when they have at least one parent with a degree.

LEAP’s Response

LEAP Science and Maths School aims to transform communities by breaking down these barriers to education and success and by enabling learners to discover their potential to transform both themselves and the communities in which they live. It does this by providing learners with access to intensive, quality education that is aimed at developing whole, socially responsible young adults that have the courage and tools to pursue their dreams and realise their full potential.