An Intersectionality Perspective on Rural Adolescent Access to Digital Technology in South Africa

2022 ◽  
pp. 35-50
Author(s):  
Amy Sarah Padayachee ◽  
Fumane Portia Khanare ◽  
Delin C. Louw ◽  
Ntombizandile Gcelu
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Education System ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Global Education ◽  
The South ◽  
African Education ◽  
Subsequent Effect ◽  
South African Education ◽  
Education Delivery

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore compounding disparities in the South African education system. The world at large has suddenly been faced with the challenge of blended learning given that COVID-19 has reconstituted the traditional form of education delivery. Much emphasis has been placed on global education, yet due to compounding inequalities stemming from the effects of apartheid, the South African education system has been left further entrenched in the digital divide. It is for this reason that the authors of this chapter illuminate the lack of digital technology, its subsequent effect on adolescents in rural areas, and how it impacts on their ability to learn and compete in the global education sphere. The perspective of Intersectionality theory highlighted in this chapter is used to address the inequalities perpetuated by digital technology on adolescents in rural areas.

scholarly journals Critical agency in the post-apartheid education system

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazir Carrim
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
South African ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Education System ◽  
The South ◽  
African Education ◽  
South African Education

This paper looks at critical agency in the South African education system. There has been a consistent linking of critical thinking with critical agency under apartheid, and that this was constructed by a ‘critical struggle’ (Touraine, 1985) against apartheid domination. However, this changed significantly in the post-apartheid moment, where compliance with the newly elected government is emphasised, and could be viewed in terms of ‘positive struggles’ (Touraine, 1986). These, however, limit critical agency in the post-apartheid formation. There is, nonetheless, evidence of critical agency being enacted in the post-apartheid education system. The importance of highlighting those forms of critical agency is crucial in order to enhance social justice in the post-apartheid educational system and society. This paper also links critical agency in the post-apartheid situation with the postcolonial and postmodern conditions because such conditions affect the possibilities of critical agency not only in South Africa but more generally.

scholarly journals Management of School Infrastructure in the Context of a No-Fee Schools Policy in Rural South African Schools: Lessons from the Field

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramodikoe Nylon Marishane
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Delivery System ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
The South ◽  
African Education ◽  
Rural South ◽  
South African Education ◽  
Education Delivery ◽  
Depth Interviews

This study examines the management of school infrastructure in the context of the “no-fee schools” policy introduced in the South African education delivery system. Focusing on four rural schools, the study applied a qualitative method, which involved observation of infrastructure conditions prevailing at four selected schools and in-depth interviews held with their principals. The study has found that though the no-fee policy has come to relieve poor parents of the burden of paying school fees, it does not help schools in addressing their infrastructural challenges.

Institutionalized inequities and the cloak of equality in the South African educational context

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032199919
Author(s):  
Alexander W. Wiseman ◽  
Petrina M. Davidson
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Education System ◽  
Educational Context ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
African Education ◽  
African Context ◽  
South African Education

The spread of neoliberalism in the South African education system provides a template for ways that regimes co-opt the values of excellence and equality while implementing policies that contradict these values. Specifically, South Africa’s education system is “cloaked” in equality, although institutionalized inequality persists long beyond the end of the Apartheid system. Neoliberal education policies legitimize the expectation that “excellence” (i.e., quality) and “equality” are synonymous, which is what leads to the development of a “cloak of equality.” But, in practice, these equivocations become mutually contradictory, as the South African context suggests. This paper examines selected elements of neoliberalism as they are embedded within the South African education system and connects those elements to the development of a symbolic “cloak of equality” that masks institutionalized inequities within the broader system.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document