Accessing the Right to Basic Education in South Africa: Four Years after the Ratification of the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

Abstract

This article examines access to the right to basic education enshrined in the South African Constitution. Underpinned by the human rights-based approach, the study employed survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews as methods of data collection. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the survey respondents contend that the post-apartheid state has fulfilled the right to basic education only to a small extent notwithstanding the existence of pre-schools, primary, and secondary schools located within a reasonable walking distance from the communities. Preference for the three classes was not equally distributed in the population, X2 (2, N= 500) = 99.68, p < 0.05. On the contrary, the majority of government participants interviewed rated the post-apartheid state fulfillment of the right to basic education in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality as fair. Overall, all the government participants had a moderate view regarding the fulfillment of the right.