‘Coordinated, sustained national dropout prevention plan’ needed
The Zero Dropout Campaign says absent learners need to be tracked and traced.
The group's been reacting to the recent dropout school numbers announced by Basic Education Department.
About 10 000 learners of compulsory school age have not returned to the classroom.
The campaign's Rahima Essop says by tracking learner absenteeism, academic performance and behaviour, educators can better understand their struggles and pathways through school.
She says this will help schools identify learners at risk of dropout so they can create support programmes.
"What we need is a coordinated and sustained national dropout prevention plan and we also need an accelerated learning strategy that is attuned to learner's needs and particularly literacy and numeracy.
"Early Grade reading has taken a severe knock during the pandemic as a result of forgetting as well as learning loses."
