Abstract:
The continued poor performance of the South African schooling system has an effect
in realizing the right to education as enshrined in the Constitution. In Juma Musjid
Primary School and others v Essay NO and others 1the Constitutional Court found
that government has a duty to provide basic education in terms of its obligations
under section 29(1)(a).This means that unlike further education, which the
government need only make progressively available through reasonable
measures , the right to basic education is incontrovertible and cannot be neglected
on grounds of, say, a lack of funding or other resources however this right is
effectively being denied by the poor quality of education.
The reason for this may be attributable to systemic challenges in the education
sector as a whole, which may be causing poor performance as witnessed in the
South African schooling system. The dawn of apartheid brought about many policy
changes within the South African education system in order to address educational
inequalities by deracialisation and compulsory schooling for all population
groups.However, the South African schooling system is still characterised by
unevenness and inequalities. In cases such as Basic Education for All and others v
Minister of Basic Education and others2 the court found that the right to basic
education is not progressively realised, and does affect performance of the schooling
system.
