WATCH: Over 100 000 children dropped out of SA schools in 2021

Merle Mansfield, Programme Director of the Zero Dropout Campaign, speaks to Newzroom Afrika about the factors pushing and pulling learners out of school. She also elaborates on what can be done to help these learners keep a grip on their education. “Dropout is preventable. As a country, we need to shift our focus away from the matric pass rate as a measure of the success of our education system. Instead retaining learners and preventing dropout should be an explicit goal of the education system,” says Merle Mansfield.