THE POLITICAL-ECONOMY OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH-AFRICA

The purpose of this paper is to point out defects in the educational policy model which underlies the African National Congress' proposals to divert spending on secondary and tertiary education to primary schooling, and to introduce more "cost recovery'. These policies derive from the Blaug "rate of return' model uncritically applied since 1965 by economists working in governments, universities, and the World Bank. The implications are that the ANC needs to do more not less than the de Klerk regime to expand post-primary education for Africans, and that raising school fees in the cause of 'cost recovery' will discriminate effectively against Africans. -from Author