You can see from the above graph that the data is skewed to attendance in lower grades. The graph shows that in 1982 a much larger proportion of Black children were attending primary school (grades Sub A and B) compared to the final grades of secondary school.
Additional factors have influenced the shape of the Black enrollment graph. Unlike the previous graph for White enrollment, we can not relate the data to the age of pupils. The graph is skewed for the following reasons:
- It was common for Black children to attend school for fewer years than white children. Rural life had significantly greater demands on the time of Black children (they were expected to help out with livestock and household chores) compared to that experienced by urban-living families.
- In rural areas Black children often started school later than children in urban areas.
- The disparity in teaching experienced in White and Black classrooms, and the fact that Blacks were usually taught in their second (or third) language rather than their primary one, meant that Black children were much more likely to fail the end-of-year assessments. Many were required to repeat school grades. (It was not unknown for a pupil to re-do a particular grade several times.) The number of pupils in Sub A and B include a significant number retaking the year.
- There were fewer opportunities for further education for Black students and thus less reason to stay on at school.
- Job reservation in South Africa kept white collar jobs firmly in the hands of Whites. Employment opportunities for Blacks in South Africa were generally manual jobs and unskilled positions.
The two graphs, which illustrate the educational inequality of the Apartheid system, are representative of an industrial country with free, compulsory education, and a poor, third world country, with significantly less industrialization.
