Question: was school different in sounth africa compared to the schools in england?

Hermine Schnetler answered on 13 Jun 2010:

In general school in South Africa is pretty similiar than here in the UK. In my day we were allowed to go to school at age five, Now days you have to be six years old. So I guess that is different from England. The reason for going to school later is because there is a believe that it is not good for children to start with formal education too early. I am in favour of the later starting age, but then it depends on the child.

We have to go to school for 12 years (Gr 1 to Gr 12). Our final school year is called matric and you have to do six subjects of which two should be languages (your mother tongue plus one of the other official languages of the country – we have 11 official languages in South Africa). I would equate the South Africa natric to Scottish Higers rather than to the English A levels because most of our degrees are four years long.

We don’t get school dinners in South Africa. School normally starts at 7:30 in the morning and finishes at 14:00. Most kids will go home for lunch and then go back to school to participate in sport. In primary school the children are allowed to go to school without school.

I think the discipline in schools are a lot more strict in South Africa.