Quality Education as a Prerequisite for Human Security in South Africa

Abstract

The quest to decrease income inequality in South Africa relies in part, on the provision of quality education for learners so as to improve their employment opportunities and potential material outcomes. This study argues that if the drop-out rate of learners persists because of poor-quality education the potential threat to human security becomes a reality that needs to be explored. The historical legacy of poor-quality education for the majority of black learners persists in contemporary South Africa. A conceptual overview of the evolution of security, moves from a state-centric approach to a broader/deeper understanding of the human security agenda where people are the main referent for security. The focus of the study is human security and how education inequality might impact on it, particularly as the UNDP human security framework includes seven dimensions for security, but education, is not explicitly specified. People need to be secured and the ‘new’ security focus is on their protection and their empowerment. Thus, quality education is emphasised as a prerequisite for the realisation of all human security dimensions in the South African context. The study is theoretically grounded in the Welsh school of Critical Security Studies (CSS) where humanity is central to the concept of security. The aim of CSS is to improve the human condition and to eradicate injustice by radically re-conceptualising security. The methodology incorporates an exploratory design, and a literature-based study, and it draws on a snapshot of longitudinal secondary data from the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) to describe the reasons for the chronic school drop-out rate in the country, which manifests as education inequality. It is argued that education inequality may be a cause of human insecurity.