SA is celebrating a historic national matric pass rate of 88%. Headlines applaud progress, rankings are circulated, and provinces are pitted against one another.
Beneath the numbers lies an uncomfortable truth we are reluctant to confront: many of these so-called “successes” come at the expense of children’s mental health, dignity, and overall well-being.
This reality becomes alarmingly evident when we look at provinces such as Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Once again ranked near the bottom of provincial performance tables, these provinces have increasingly adopted extreme schooling practices.
Extended school hours, weekend classes, and relentless exam-driven schedules have become the norm. Children are expected to attend school for the entire week, often from 6.30am until 4pm, with little regard for rest, family life, play, or the need for mental breaks.
This approach raises a fundamental question: What kind of education system demands exhaustion from children and then measures success solely through pass rates?
Children are not machines. They are not productivity units. And they are certainly not workers whose worth is measured by how many hours they can endure in a classroom.
Research and lived experience consistently show that excessive academic pressure undermines learning rather than improving it.
Chronic fatigue, anxiety, burnout, and disengagement are not signs of discipline; they are warning signs. Expecting children under such conditions to perform at their best is not only unrealistic, but it is also deeply harmful.
The reality is that this practice is widespread across township and rural public schools throughout the country. Pupils in these schools are subjected to extended and rigid schedules, while children in former model C schools continue to learn during regular school hours, enjoying structured sports and extracurricular activities built into the school day.
Many public schools no longer offer sport or play at all, a loss that not only deprives pupils of balance and joy but also deepens the inequality between schools that can nurture the whole child and those that cannot.
Many public schools no longer offer sport or play at all, a loss that not only deprives learners of balance and joy but also deepens the inequality between schools that can nurture the whole child and those that cannot.
— Kgomotso Papo
The irony is striking; the provinces and systems imposing the most punishing schedules on children are not leading in performance outcomes.
In contrast, those that invest in teacher support, pupil well-being, balanced timetables, and holistic development consistently achieve better results. This alone dismantles the assumption that longer hours translate into better learning outcomes.
An education system grounded in children’s rights must recognise that the right to education is inseparable from the right to dignity, health, rest, and development.
International standards and the constitution are clear; education must be in the best interests of the child, not merely convenient for administrative targets or political optics.
If we continue to normalise excessive school hours, we risk entrenching a culture where children are blamed for systemic failures such as poor infrastructure, uneven teacher-to-student ratios, curriculum overload, and weak psychosocial support, problems that no amount of sacrifice from children can solve.
We do not need harsher schedules; what we need are stronger systems, such as:
- Investment in teacher development and support;
- More teachers in schools;
- Curriculum pacing that reflects children’s realities;
- Psychosocial services in schools; and
- Policies that treat child well-being as a performance indicator, not an afterthought.
Celebrating pass rates without interrogating the human cost is short-sighted. Education success that leaves children exhausted, anxious, and burnt out is not success at all.
True success is measured by the dignity, well-being, and wholeness of the children who carry our future.
If SA is serious about transforming education, we must move beyond numbers and ask a more honest question: Are our children learning or merely surviving the system we have built for them?
- Papo is a child participation adviser at Save the Children SA
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