Bottom financial quintile student success

South Africa (SA) School Quintile Categorisation

According to the South African Schools Act 1996, the state is required to fund all public schools and the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF) policy (2004) and (2006) provides a quintile ranking system and mechanism to address equity in schools.

The national quintile for public schools represents one of five groups into which all South African public ordinary schools are placed, and where the grouping is according to the poverty of the community around the school, i.e., from the most poor to the least poor. It is the level of poverty of the school that determines how poor each school learner is.

Quintile 1 is the most poor quintile, Quintile 2 is the second-poorest quintile, and so on. Each national quintile encompasses one-fifth of the school learners enrolled in public ordinary schools.

The national quintile for school learners represents one of the five groups into which all South African public ordinary school learners are placed. The national quintile for any school learner is always the same as the national quintile for the public school in which the school learner is enrolled.

> Quintile 1 is the group of schools in each SA province catering for the poorest (most poor) 20% of school learners (i.e., the poorest one-fifth).

> Quintile 2 schools cater for the next poorest (more poor) 20% of schools (i.e., the next poorest one-fifth), and so on.

> Quintile 5 schools are those schools that cater for the least poor 20% of school learners.

Strategic Objective Two: Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Enrolment Profile

Refer to page 5 of the UJ Strategic Objectives 2024-2025:

“The University aims for an enrolment profile that shows increasing growth in SET fields while maintaining significant proportions of enrolments across all the other primary disciplinary areas.

Its goal is to enrol outstanding students from diverse backgrounds including a significant proportion of international students, a significant number of students from illustrious schools in Africa, from South African schools in the lowest two quintiles and from illustrious South African schools, communities and families.”

Refer to page 6 of the UJ Strategic Plan 2025 – Strategic Objectives Summary:

“This will be achieved through maintaining an appropriate enrolment profile, offering intellectually rigorous curricula which respond innovatively to the challenges of the 21st century, promoting outstanding achievements by the full range of our highly diverse student body, and establishing pre-eminence and stature as a teaching-focused institution.

The enrolment profile will show increasing growth in SET fields, while maintaining significant proportions of enrolment across all the other primary disciplinary areas, with an emphasis on enrolment of outstanding students from diverse backgrounds, a significant proportion of international students, and a significant number of students from schools in the lowest two quintiles.”