Introduction
There is a popular perception that sizeable numbers of township learners commute daily to schools located in other townships, or even further afield in the city. In the post-1994 period, school migration patterns have been the subject of substantial research[1].
However, the extent to which the ‘exodus’ (as Msila, 2005 refers to it) from township schools evidenced in other parts of the country also applies to Khayelitsha is less apparent. Indeed, the opposite may be the case, for as Chisholm & Sujee (2011) have pointed out, Western Cape schools have integrated African students the least. They report that only 3% of learners in previously House of Assembly (formerly ‘white’ schools)[2] and 6% of learners in House of Representative schools are African. Furthermore, as Soudien (2004) noted in an earlier study, there has been no parallel movement towards African schools. This is reflective of the situation in Khayelitsha.
In Fataar’s (2007; 2009) extensive ethnographic study of Rustvale[3], a mixed African and coloured working class community in the Metropole, a more nuanced picture emerges and one that distinguishes two components to migratory school attendance. In addition to children commuting to schools elsewhere in the city, there is substantial movement within the township with significant numbers of learners coming from other residential areas rather than those in which schools are located[4]. In Rustvale at least, the attendance in the community’s schools is accompanied by a degree of what Fataar (2007) terms ‘enrolment flux’ – with up to 15% of learners switching between schools.
Coming in from the Eastern Cape
Learner migration into the Western Cape is carefully monitored by the WCED[5]. Of the 122 378 school-age children that arrived in the province between 2010 and 2014, the overwhelming majority (80,2%) came from the Eastern Cape. This is a substantial figure. The impact of the 19 857 new learners in 2014 was felt in both Primary and Secondary schools, with the majority entering the schooling system in Grade R, 1 and 10. Many arrive unexpectedly at the start of the school year[6] seeking places in the very schools that are least equipped to accommodate them (i.e. the townships).
Without specific numbers being given[7], Khayelitsha is cited as one of the areas that has seen significant levels of new enrolments from the Eastern Cape. Referring back to the 2015 grade enrolment profile on page 1 of Briefing Document 2 (reproduced here as Appendix 1 below), it is tempting to suggest that the spikes in enrolment in Grades 1 and 10 can in part be explained by this in-migration. While the school-level impact requires further investigation, it is predicted that given the enrolment patterns argued above, this is localised to the schools servicing the communities most likely to be absorbing these newcomers – particularly the informal settlements in Enkanini to the far south of the township. It may be no coincidence then that two of the primary schools in the immediate area, KP 14 and KP 15, now both have over 1 500 learners.
It is worth noting that according to the Learner Migration Press Release, Khayelitsha (as with Langa) has ‘the capacity to enrol additional learners’ (pg. 4); which further validates the official position that schooling (in terms of the availability of available positions for learners at least) is not experiencing undue pressure in the township.
A recent ‘throughput survey’ at one of the SII partner schools is illustrative of the movement of learners into a school:
What is notable is that just over a third (35%) of the learners joined the school after Grade 1[8], which would seem to confirm that there is indeed a significant movement of learners between some schools, particularly those, such as this one, that have some status in the eyes of the local community.
A further possible indicator of the degree of enrolment flux is provided by variations in school numbers from one year to the next described in Briefing Document 2. As noted there, as in other matters/areas[9], primary and secondary schools manifest markedly different trends in this regard. In general, and noting again the underpinning assumption that schools in the township are not subjected to significant in-migration, any significant variation in enrolments can be ascribed to movements between schools.
In an attempt to build a broader picture of within township migratory school attendance, information was gathered from a group of 265 learners drawn from all 20 secondary schools in the township[10]. In addition to naming the school they were currently attending, they were asked to indicate the school they had attended in Grade 7 (the final year of primary schooling) and also to give the name of the primary and secondary schools closest to their home. Finally, as a cross check, they were asked to provide their residential addresses.
The data was captured from the respondents anonymously and collated per school. Given the sample size, it cannot be argued that the ‘265 study’ (hereafter referred to) provides a definitive picture of migratory secondary schooling movements within and across the township, but it illustrates/suggests a particular pattern, as outlined below:
One third (34,0%) of secondary school learners attend the secondary school closest to where they live; which is similar to the corresponding figure for primary school attendance (34,3%).This would seem to confirm that indeed large numbers of learners are on the move. However, presented in summary form as above tends to mask the fact that some schools are in quite close proximity. For instance, secondary schools such as KS 10 & KS 8 and KS 1 & KS 12 are within a kilometer of each other and KS 16 is literally around the corner from KS 5 in Mahkaya section.
When it comes to the primary schools there are a number of distinct clusters, particularly in the older more established parts of the township. In Site B for instance, there are four such clusters – KP 23, KP 24, KP 27 and KP 30, bracketing KS 18 along the relatively short length of Bangiso drive. Similarly, all five primary schools in Site C arewithin easy reach of most people living in that community. In such instances, a local’s choice of school is just that, choice.
This is reflected in the fact that 13 out of the 15 KS 6 learners attended one of the Site C primary schools. This indicates that in the context of Site C at least, the majority of children are being schooled close to their homes.
SITE C, WARD 87 / EnrolmentsPrimary schools / 2009 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015
KP 4 / 1 028 / 953 / 950 / 912 / 979
KP 11 / 1 113 / 1 168 / 1 124 / 1 104 / 1 128
KP 20 / 976 / 1 018 / 953 / 1 043 / 1 115
KP 32 / 1 096 / 1 060 / 1 102 / 1 081 / 1 047
KP 33 / 1 203 / 1 151 / 1 158 / 1 200 / 1 200
Total / 5 416 / 5 350 / 5 287 / 5 340 / 5 469
Secondary school
KS 6 / 1 245 / 1 121 / 1 252 / 1 149 / 1 246
Given the available evidence, to substantiate a similar claim for other parts of the township is a little less straightforward. However, evidence gathered during one of the case studies undertaken during the MSEP project provides a comprehensive picture of the distribution of feeder schools at KS5, one of the Khayelitsha secondary schools (see Appendix 2). Three of the local primary schools provided 60% of the school’s Grade 8 learners and one school; KP18 in this report’s dataset, provided just under a third (64/218). KP 18 is within 300 m of Fynbos High and there is no reason to doubt that many of these learners live in close proximity to both schools.
When it comes to secondary school migration patterns in Khayelitsha, significant numbers of learners are sedentary, which means they tend to enroll at schools close or nearby to their homes. When, in fewer instances, students are on the move, the school attendance patterns gleaned from the 365-survey provides some pointers as to where else in the township learners are commuting.
By way of illustration a useful indicator of learner mobility is the pattern of movement away from a specific locality such as Site C Where the community has direct access to only one secondary school, KS 6, it is worth noting that enrolments at the community’s five primary schools (and KS 6) have been, with the exception of KP20, essentially quite stable over the past seven years.
In terms of enrolments there has been no undue pressure on these schools in recent years. This is an important point, because it implies that any migration to other schools in the township is based on personal choice. The graphic below shows where the 21 Site C learners in the ‘265 survey’ go:
While not drawn to scale, the diagram does provide an approximation of the schools relative to each other and in relation to the train service[11], which provides learners with relatively cheap transportation to and from Site C[12].
KS 20, a school with a strong Business Studies focus[13] in Thembani Village is adjacent to Site C, so it is not surprising that learners gravitate here (as do others from outside the township – a point which will be taken up further below). It is interesting to note that in this sample only one learner from Site C attends KS 18, which along with KS 13 is located in the section of Khayelitsha nearest to the southern boundary of Site C.
As with a number of other schools (KS 5, KS 9 & KS 7), both KS 18 and KS 13 appear to cater for children drawn from the community in the immediately vicinity of the school. This is most apparent at KS 13 where eight out of the 13 learners attended either KP 28 or KP 29 primary schools, which are both very close by.
Having said that, children are certainly on the move, yet not always where they are expected to be. For instance, whereas a school such as KS 15 (with three learners from Site C) is an easy walk from Khayelitsha train station, so is KS 16, which has none. Given its position, the four learners at KS 17 will have to use other forms of transportation, either buses or taxis; yet KS 11 with one learner from Site C is less than a kilometer from Khayelitsha station. Of all the schools, one of the least accessible is KS 14 on the eastern edge of Makhaza, but a learner from Site C has found his/her way there too.
Given KS 17’s poor academic performance there seems to be no obvious explanation as to why parents would choose to send their child to the school. Although it may well be that given its relatively low academic status, the simplest explanation is the most obvious one, namely it has space[14]. Conversely, more easily understood is the position of KS 15 as a possible ‘school of choice’ given its recent academic performance[15] and also its accessibility in terms of transport.
Fataar (2007: 18) suggests that contrary to popular perception, many young people who attend township schools exercise agency in their school choices. In the context of Khayelitsha primary schooling, where this could be more appropriately framed as a question of parental choice(rather than that of their children), there is no doubt that within the broader community schools are judged and valued differently, which results in some of them having an elevated status relative to their neighbours which in turn translates into them becoming ‘schools of choice’.
As in Rustvale, how perceptions about the worth of schools are produced, circulated and critically acted upon by parents are undoubtedly influenced by a variety of factors – from a school’s academic and community status, the possibility of some personal connection (a family member may have attended the school), to considerations of affordability. Specifically, whether or not ‘school fees’ are levied by the SGB, school uniform policies and the cost of transport if the school is located at a distance from the home, are a few possible factors that influence parents’ perceptions. In addition is the perceived link to UCT.
When it comes to choosing a secondary school, its success, or lack thereof in the Matric exams undoubtedly casts a long shadow, but perhaps not always to the extent that would be anticipated given the range in performance across the schools.KS 3 is a case in point.
Prior to 2014 this is a schoolthat consistently and quite dramatically outperformed all other Khayelitsha schools in the Grade 12final examinations and in the process has garnered significant recognition for its achievements[16].
Critically as a result, its Matriculants have an impressive record at securing places at local tertiary institutions[17]. Moreover, alongside its strong mathematics and sciences focus, it is the only school in the township that affords learners the opportunity to take the subject Information Technology up to Matric. These factors, one might imagine, would translate into numbers of parents seeking to enroll their children at the school. However, up to fairly recently[18]KS 3 struggled to attract a large enough pool of applicants from which to choose those best suited academically to the circumstances of the school.
The extent (and perhaps limitations?) of KS 3’s educational status in the community will be the subject of a much closer investigation. Suffice to say here that it points to the deep complexity of school choice and how parents (and their children) exercise their agency in this regard.
Returning to the ‘265 survey’ data, based on the data it is clear that the number of learners who live in close proximity (within reasonable walking distance) of their present-day schools amounts to a clear majority, or just under two thirds (65,4%) of the total, a figure which helps place the commuting picture into perspective.
In closing: Outside in
Even though it effectively provides no more than a snapshot, the ‘265 survey’does seem to confirm that relatively few learners are commuting intothe township on a daily basis – only 15 (just over 5%) of the 265 respondents indicated that they livedoutside of Khayelitsha. Nine of these learners are attending one of the two (ex) Focus schools – four at KS 20 (Business, Commerce & Management), two at KS 2 (Arts & Culture) and three at KS 3, the specialist science and technology school.And it also corroborates another source of school-level data (see Dornbrack & Clark, 2014) that the influx of ‘in-migrators’ from further afield (i.e. the Eastern Cape) may not be having as big an impact on Khayelitsha schooling as might be commonly believed. Only 39 (14,7%) learners surveyed at KS 5indicated that they had attended a primary school in the Eastern Cape.
APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2
REFERENCES
Amsterdam, C.E.N., Nomo, M. and Weber, E. 2012. School desegregation trends in Gauteng Province, Africa Education Review, 9(1), pp. 27-46.
Chisholm, L. and Sujee, M. 2011. Tracking racial desegregation in South African schools. Journal of Education. 40: pp141-159.
Dornbrack, J and Clark, J. 2014. Mathematics and Science Education Project (MSEP) Report. Unpublished Research Report, University of Cape Town.
Fataar, A. 2007. Educational renovation in a South African ‘township on the move’: A social – spatial analysis. International Journal of Educational Development, 27(6):599–612.
Fataar, A. 2009. Schooling subjectivities across the post-apartheid city. Africa Education Review, 6(1), pp.1-18.
Msila, V. 2005. Education exodus: the light from township schools. Africa Education Review. 2(2): pp 173-188.
Nkomo, M., Weber, E., Amsterdam, C.E.N. 2008. Geographies of School Desegregation. Research report submitted to the National Research Foundation. Pretoria: University of Pretoria
Schirmer, S. 2010. Hidden assets: South Africa's low-fee private schools. Johannesburg:
Centre for Development and Enterprise. Available from:
< [Accessed April 2015].
Sekete, P., Shilubane, M. and Badiri, M. 2001. Deracialisation and migration of learners in South African schools. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
Soudien, C. 2004. ‘Constituting the class’: An analysis of the process of ‘integration’ in South African schools. In Changing class: Education and social change in post-apartheid South Africa, ed. L. Chisholm, 89–113. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
1
[1] See for example: Soudien, 2004; Msila, 2005; Nkomo, Amsterdam & Weber, 2008 and Amsterdam, Nkomo & Weber 2012.
[2] Under apartheid, white schools were administered by the House of Assembly (HOA); designated coloured schools by the House of Representatives (HOR); Indian schools by the House of Delegates (HOD) and African schools in the urban townships, by the Department of Education of Training (DET). It should be noted that there were a very small number of HOD schools in the city. For convenience, the acronyms are often still employed as signifiers of a school’s pre-1994 association. In the Western Cape, post-1994 schools are designated in official documentation as ‘WCED’ schools.
[3]This is a pseudonym.
[4]In the broader context of township schooling, Sekete, Shilubane & Badiri (2001) propose that just under half (45%) of children do not attend their neighborhood school.
[5]A Media Release from the office of the Minister of Education dated 6 February 2014 provides a comprehensive overview of the situation in this regard from 2010-2014 (
[6]Given the relative high levels of functionality in the system, most enrolments are finalised prior to end of the previous school year.
[7]29% (around 5 750 learners) of the 2014 new enrolments from the Eastern Cape are indicated as being in Metro East (i.e. MEED). It is not known how many were in Khayelitsha schools, but other communities experiencing significant growth in the District are Lwandle/Strand.
[8] That a further 16 joined in Grade 1 is not seen as significant because this school, as with others in the township, only has a limited number of places available in its Grade R classes.
[9] Such as throughput and retention rates.
[10]These were all learners who participated in the annual UCT Mathematics Competition on 16 April 2015.
[11] Chris Hani, the last station on the Central Line to the south is excluded.
[12] Nolungile station was intentionally situated to serve Site C.
[13] KS 20 had some status as one of the province’s eight designated ‘Business, Commerce & Management’ Focus schools.
[14] 2015 has seen a sharp increase in enrolments from a low of 830 in 2014 to 945.
[15]As we shall see later, KS 15 achieved the top Matric results in the 2014 final exams.
[16] See for instance: ‘A Khayelitsha Schools Success Shines Like a Beacon of Possibility’. Western Cape Government. Education Update, Edition 23, March 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015:
[17] In 2013, nine out of the 29 students enrolled at UCT from Khayelitsha schools were from KS 3.
[18] In 2015 there were just over 400 applicants for its 105 Grade 8 places.