{"id":150787,"date":"2019-11-13T22:47:40","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T20:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/south-africa-must-up-its-game-and-produce-more-teachers-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2019-11-13T22:47:40","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T20:47:40","slug":"south-africa-must-up-its-game-and-produce-more-teachers-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/south-africa-must-up-its-game-and-produce-more-teachers-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa must up its game and produce more teachers | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa must up its game and produce more teachers<\/a>: <\/p>\n

South Africa isn't producing enough teachers to meet the demand. <\/span> Shutterstock<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A UNESCO report, which examined the number of teachers that each country needs, found that sub-Saharan Africa needs an additional 6,3 million teachers if it\u2019s to attain universal primary education by 2030. <\/p>\n

The Centre for Development and Enterprise predicted that South Africa will need to have 456,000 teachers by 2025 to offer quality education. According to the Department of Basic Education, South Africa\u2019s public education system has 410,000 teachers. These teachers are employed in approximately 25,000 schools across the country and are responsible for teaching 12.9 million pupils. <\/p>\n

South Africa doesn\u2019t graduate the adequate number of teachers to meet the supply and demand. Currently, the country\u2019s initial teacher institutions graduate 15,000 new teachers per year. This is below the 25,000 mark required to maintain an effective teacher-pupil ratio. <\/p>\n

But between 18,000 and 22,000 teachers leave the profession every year. This figure is higher than teachers who join the profession. <\/p>\n

The Teaching and Learning International Survey published in July 2019 found that the average age of the South African teacher was 43 years. The survey also found that 32% of teachers were aged 50 and above. This means that in the next decade almost half of the current teaching workforce will have to be replaced. <\/p>\n

In addition, South Africa is particularly lagging in producing teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. <\/p>\n

Teachers are regarded as the essential drivers of a good quality education system. If South Africa can\u2019t successfully recruit, retain, and train enough suitably qualified teachers it won\u2019t be able to provide quality education to the citizens to meet the country\u2019s social and economic needs. <\/p>\n

The challenges<\/h2>\n

There are a number of contributors to the country\u2019s escalating teacher shortage. These include: <\/p>\n