Education Report - South African Schools: Weak Test Results, but Some Good News

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VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report in English. Tests of schoolchildren in South Africa show that are not doing as well as they should. The tested about 7 million children in 24,000 schools. This , for the first time, testing included students in the grade. There was a sharp drop in average scores first grade to ninth grade in both mathematics and . The news was not all bad, however. The country's Education Department said young students appeared to make gains to last year. This is especially true of third-graders-. , the gains seemed to have disappeared in the ninth . At that level, only about two percent scored more 50 percent in math. A spokesman for the Basic Department says although the results have been criticized, they hopeful developments. Students from poor families scored well compared wealthier students. And he said the study confirms that attendance is high. Thabo Kupa serves on the executive of the youth league of the ruling African National . He said the results for the ninth grade are . He added that the test results call for officials act. This year, South Africa's Basic Education Department was of failing to provide textbooks to students in the northern Limpopo Province. An employee was accused of dropping 700 of the badly needed books into a river Limpopo. To educate an estimated 12 million students, the spends 207 billion rand, or about $23 billion. Education South Africa's biggest budget item, and education spending is to increase. For VOA Learning English, I'm Alex Villarreal. ( from a radio program broadcast 03Jan2013)

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