Our Communications Lead recently joined Benito Vergontine on CapeTalk to discuss findings from our latest publication, School Dropout: Advocacy to Action. The conversation unpacked key insights from our research, including why policy changes alone aren’t enough and how psychosocial support plays a critical role in keeping learners engaged and in school. Tune in to the interview […]
Our Communications Lead sat down with Channel Africa to discuss the findings from our latest publication, School Dropout: Advocacy to Action, in the context of the 2025 matric results. The conversation explored the factors influencing learner success, why policy shifts alone aren’t enough, and how psychosocial support can help prevent school dropout. Listen to the interview […]
Over 207,000 learners disappear from South Africa’s school system before reaching matric—highlighting a national education crisis that demands urgent action. In this episode, Samm Marshall speaks with Colin Wardle, Communications Lead at Zero Dropout, about the root causes of school dropouts, effective solutions, and how communities can play a role in keeping learners in school. […]
Our Programme Director, Merle Mansfield, sat down with YFM to unpack the findings of our latest publication, School Dropout: Advocacy to Action. The survey highlights how dropout is not an isolated incident but is deeply influenced by community and household factors. Listen to the full interview.
Our campaign director, Merle Mansfield, breaks down throughput rates and what this means in correlation to the latest matric results with TT on Power FM on 16 January 2025. Listen to the full interview as we dive into this important metric.
The results are in! Our Communications Lead breaks down the latest matric results, highlighting a small improvement in the throughput rate. But what does this really mean? And why is it important? Listen to him unpack this with Benito Vergotine from Smile FM on 13 January 2025.
Watch the livestream of our Public Dialogue School Dropout: Advocacy to Action held on 30 January, 2025 where we unpack the findings of our survey data and the significance in correlation to the latest matric results and in the context of the unequal society in South Africa. Watch the panel answer questions from the public […]
A new survey report from the DG Murray Trust’s Zero Dropout Campaign, namely School Dropout: Advocacy to Action, reveals that pregnancy and academic challenges are one of the main reasons that one third of SA children don’t finish school. The campaign’s report comes after the group surveyed 1 247 people from 50 districts across SA. […]
When the class of 2024 began their school career in 2013, they had about 1,2 million classmates. However, only about 800,000 made it to the matric to sit for the final exams. That’s a dropout rate of around 40 percent. Colin Wardle, our communications lead speaks about why we lose so many pupils. Watch the […]
On this thought-provoking instalment of The Talking Point with Cathy Mohlahlana, Merle Mansfield, Programme Director of the Zero Dropout Campaign, discusses the teenage pregnancy crisis in South Africa and its contribution to school dropout. More than 4,000 girls between 10 and 19 years old have given birth in the Eastern Cape since the beginning of […]
In this SAfm interview with Stephen Grootes, Merle Mansfield, Programme Director of the Zero Dropout Campaign, discusses the protentional implications of the Department of Basic Education’s new General Education Certificate for Grade 9 currently being piloted in schools across South Africa. The General Education Certificate is scheduled for national implementation in 2025, and if so, […]
There has been debate whether the General Education Certificate (GEC) will, despite its intentions, inadvertently formalise the dropout phenomenon in South Africa, which is still at crisis level.
When it comes to learners dropping out of school, the Department of Basic Education’s spokesperson seems far more interested in problematising legitimate criticism than the issue at hand. The recent opinion piece, ‘Including dropouts in the matric pass rate detracts from the real issues affecting youngsters’, by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) chief director […]
Recently on Power FM’s POWER Breakfast show, our Programme Director, Merle Mansfield debated the Department of Basic Education’s Elijah Mhlanga on the need to present dropout statistics alongside the matric pass rate. Mr Mhlanga argues that this is unnecessary and detracts from what should be our focus. However, we argue that the matric pass rate […]
Since Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Budget Speech in February this year, there have been numerous reports released with worrying insights to the state of our education system, particularly the levels of literacy in South Africa. Colin Wardle, Head of Communications at the Zero Dropout Campaign, speaks to the Voice of The Cape about this, highlighting […]
In this interview with Money Web, Merle Mansfield, Programme Director of the Zero Dropout Campaign, explains why Government need to address the high dropout rate when it comes to budget allocations for education. “At the moment we have about a 57% survival rate in our school system, which means that 57% of learners who start […]
The latest census results released by Statistics South Africa reveal that 5.2 million young people in the country are not attending school. This is an increase of 200 000 young people, aged between 5 to 24, in comparison to 2011. Zero Dropout Campaign’s Marle Mansfield says pupils leave school prematurely due to factors inside and […]
Despite the early morning chill, a crowd of young people – from school-age learners to students and young adults – began arriving at the Loftus Park in Pretoria from 9am to participate in the National Youth Coalition’s (NYC) annual Youth Day Parade for Justice and Change. Formally endorsed by nearly 100 organisations, including the Zero Dropout […]
Cape Talk host, Clarence Ford, speaks to Merle Mansfield, Programme Director of the Zero Dropout Campaign, about the spike in school dropout in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mansfield elaborates on the causes of school dropout, explaining that dropout has largely been normalised and credited to learners being “lazy” or “disinterested” but this is not […]
Bic, the stationery manufacturer, has recently concluded its nationwide Back-to-School campaign that sheds light on the country’s alarming school dropout rates. In partnership with the Zero Dropout Campaign, BIC leveraged its campaign to raise awareness around one of the major challenges in the education sector. Among Bic’s commitments is improving learning conditions for 250 million […]
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