As xenophobic rhetoric seeps into classrooms and anti-immigrant groups target schools, the real pressure on South Africa’s education system stems from structural failures – not the 1.8% of
learners who are foreign nationals, writes Merle Mansfield.
If you ask organisations working with teens what keeps them awake at night, you’ll hear many different answers. Some will point to unsafe schools and inadequate sanitation. Others will talk about hunger, substance abuse, violence, mental health, bullying or teenage pregnancy. Some will speak about school dropout, while others focus on unemployment, family breakdown or […]
In South African high schools, it’s not uncommon to find a cluster of boys smoking outside the toilets. Their presence is menacing—frightening, even—for those boys who mistakenly wander into the “wrong” toilet and are met with ridicule at best, a beating at worst. This pattern of disengagement raises an obvious sociological question: Why do some […]
Across South Africa, organisations working with teens are facing a common reality: young people are carrying increasing emotional, social, and psychological weight, while the systems intended to support them are often struggling to keep pace. This year, the Zero Dropout Campaign is hosting a series of learning exchanges as part of a national listening and […]
On Wednesday, Zero Dropout Campaign Programme Director Merle Mansfield visited Wynberg High School. This engagement follows a meeting with the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) provincial leadership team a few weeks ago.Merle engaged the Wynberg High School Management Team (SMT) on dropout data, prevention strategies, and teen wellbeing. The presentation probed the role of […]
This video documents the opening remarks, keynotes and acknowledgements from the School Dropout: Hanging by a Thread publication launch, hosted at the Iziko Museum on 28 January 2025. The launch featured an immersive exhibition designed to surface the psychosocial factors underpinning school dropout, offering guests a multi-sensory entry point into the realities facing learners across […]
Record-breaking matric results don’t tell the full story. Behind the celebration is a growing dropout crisis that continues to push thousands of learners out of the system before they reach matric. Over the weekend, our Communications Lead, Colin Wardle, joined ENCA to unpack the key reasons behind South Africa’s high dropout rates — and what […]
Merle Mansfield, our campaign director speaks to SAfm about school dropout, national trends and what’s needed to improve learner retention.
A snippet on Radio 786 exploring the social and systemic factors contributing to school dropout in South Africa.
A Capricorn FM interview snippet unpacking school dropout in the Limpopo context and the importance of community-led solutions.
Zero Dropout Campaign joins CCfm to unpack the realities behind school dropout and why early intervention matters.
Last year, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli visited the Victoria Mxenge Hospital in Durban to celebrate the birth of 47 babies that were born on Christmas Day in the province. This visit, however, exposed a troubling and persistent challenge facing South Africa; three of these Christmas babies were born to mothers who were only 15 years […]
Political leaders in KwaZulu-Natal have recently raised alarm bells regarding the state of teenage pregnancy and dropout in the province. According to the Health Systems Trust’s Phakama Digest report, 31,088 teenage pregnancies were recorded at public health facilities between April 2023 and March 2024, including 610 births to girls as young as 10 to 14 […]
As South Africa’s government observes Child Protection Week, the national lead on the initiative, the Department of Social Development (DSD), has declared that they will focus on the fight against violence and child abuse, following the revelation that more than 26 000 cases of child abuse and neglect were reported in the 2024/25 financial year. […]
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.
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