LISTEN: South Africa needs real-time data to get an up-to-date and relevant picture of school dropout in the country

The Zero Dropout Campaign has explored the knowns and unknowns in dropout debates and they recommend that the availability of accurate and reliable data will allow for accountability within the education sector. This is because the best way to promote accountability is by making dropout a key performance indicator and by making budgetary commitments that will make this a reality. Merle Mansfield, Programme Director of the Zero Dropout Campaign, speaks to SAfm host Aldrin Sampear about this.

The consequences of dropouts are too damaging to ignore because when a young person drops out of school, the effects go beyond the individual pupil; they deepen inter-generational poverty, unemployment and inequality.