Why thousands of parents are choosing online homeschooling

The numbers tell two very different stories about South African education. On one hand, Minister Siviwe Gwarube celebrated the Class of 2024's 87.3% matric pass rate as 'historic'. On the other hand, the World Bank just released a damning report revealing that 80% of Grade 4 learners cannot properly understand what they're reading.

Both statistics are true. But only one reveals why middle-class parents across Sandton, Cape Town, and Durban are increasingly withdrawing their children from traditional schools and enrolling them in online homeschools like CambriLearn.

The mathematics of failure

Here's what the celebration obscures: of the 1.2 million learners who began Grade 1 in 2013, only 615,000 passed matric in 2024. That's a real completion rate of 51%, not 87%. Over half a million young South Africans were lost along the way – pushed out, left behind, or simply given up trying to fit into a system that wasn't designed for them.

The World Bank's fifteenth South Africa Economic Update, released in February 2025, provides the broader context that makes these failures inevitable. Despite education being at the core of the country's inclusive growth strategy, budget allocations for basic education have been decreasing in real terms for years. Meanwhile, the system needs to expand to accommodate an additional 1.2 million learners by 2030.

The mathematics is brutal: fewer resources, more students, and teaching quality that hasn't fundamentally improved. The result? An education system optimised to move students through grades, not to ensure they actually learn.

When the system is the problem (not your child)

'Low quality teaching and insufficient accountability' is how the World Bank diplomatically phrases it. But talk to parents who've recently enrolled their children at CambriLearn, and you'll hear a different story: rigid curricula that don't flex for different learning styles, overcrowded classrooms where individual attention is impossible, and a one-size-fits-all approach that treats every child as if they learn exactly the same way.

The system labels struggling students as the problem. Parents are told their children need 'more discipline' or 'aren't applying themselves'. Teachers, overwhelmed by class sizes of 40+ students and administrative burdens, can't provide the individualised support that would make the difference.

But thousands of South African parents are discovering a liberating truth: their children aren't the problem. The system is.

This revelation is driving explosive growth in online homeschooling. CambriLearn, South Africa's top-rated online homeschool, has enrolled students from over 100 countries precisely because it solves problems that traditional schools cannot – and will not – address.

The private sector response

While government grapples with declining budgets and expanding enrolment, private education providers are demonstrating that different approaches work. The World Bank report specifically calls for collaboration with the private sector to improve both access and quality, particularly for students who can't thrive in traditional settings.

Currently, only 5.5% of South African schoolchildren attend independent schools, compared to global averages of 19% at the primary level and 27% at the secondary level. But that gap represents opportunity – not for elite private schools charging R200,000+ per year, but for innovative models that challenge how education should work.

Why parents choose CambriLearn

When a child struggles with mathematics in a traditional classroom of 40 students, they fall behind and rarely catch up. At CambriLearn, students progress at their own pace – moving ahead when they've mastered concepts, taking extra time when they need it. There's no embarrassment, no falling behind, no pretending to understand while the class moves on.

For children who experience anxiety in traditional school settings, whether from social pressures, bullying, or sensory overwhelm, CambriLearn removes those barriers entirely. Learning happens in the safety of home, without the daily stress that prevents so many capable students from showing what they can do.

And for families whose children are accelerated learners, bored in classes designed for average pace, CambriLearn removes the ceiling. Students can complete multiple grades per year if they're ready, or dive deeper into subjects they're passionate about.

But perhaps the most compelling advantage is the choice of curriculum and education pathways. CambriLearn offers International GCSE and British A Levels, Pearson Edexcel, CAPS, KABV, IEB and US K-12 education pathways. This means parents can select the curriculum that best matches their child's learning style and university aspirations – something impossible in traditional schools locked into provincial requirements.

For working parents managing demanding careers, CambriLearn provides structure without rigidity. No morning battles to get out the door by 7am. No afternoon rush to collect children. Learning happens when and where it works for your family, while maintaining the academic rigour and accreditation needed for university admission.

The G20 moment

South Africa's 2025 G20 presidency has made education a central focus, with the Basic Education Sector Lekgotla in February focusing on 'Strengthening foundations for learning for a resilient future-fit education system'. The rhetoric is encouraging. The question is whether it will translate into meaningful change.

The priorities are right: strengthening early childhood development, improving foundational literacy and numeracy, implementing mother-tongue-based bilingual education, and providing better teacher support. These interventions could prevent 80% of Grade 4s from becoming functionally illiterate.

But fixing the foundation doesn't help the millions of students already in the system, struggling through curricula they don't understand, in environments that don't work for them. For these students, waiting for systemic reform isn't an option.

Born unstoppable: When traditional schooling isn't working

Perhaps the most valuable thing CambriLearn offers isn't curriculum flexibility or personalised pacing – it's permission. Permission for parents to acknowledge that their child's school anxiety isn't a character flaw. Permission to admit that traditional schooling isn't working, even when report cards show passing grades. Permission to stop forcing a square peg into a round hole.

Every week, CambriLearn enrols students whose parents describe the same relief: "I thought it was just my child. I didn't know other families were going through this, too."

They're not alone. Children who are:

• Gifted but bored and disengaged
  
• Struggling with anxiety or ADHD in crowded classrooms
  
• Falling behind despite tutoring and extra lessons
  
• Being bullied or socially excluded
  
• Simply learning differently from what the traditional system accommodates.

These aren't problem children. They're unstoppable children trapped in a system that was never designed for them.

The World Bank's report calls for 'overdue reforms and emerging priorities'. But reform takes years, sometimes decades. Your child's education is happening now. The question facing parents isn't whether the government will eventually fix traditional schooling – it's whether you're willing to wait while your child's potential goes unrealised.

The path forward: What parents can do now

South Africa doesn't need to choose between reforming traditional education and embracing alternatives – it needs both. The government should absolutely pursue the World Bank's recommendations: improve teacher training, scale successful interventions, and address funding inequities.

But if you're a parent watching your child struggle, lose confidence, or simply not reach their potential in traditional school, you don't have to wait for systemic reform. You have options now.

CambriLearn has helped thousands of families discover what their children are truly capable of when learning is designed around them rather than bureaucratic convenience. Students who were labelled 'difficult' or 'unmotivated' suddenly thrive when given flexibility and personalisation. Parents who felt guilty about considering alternatives discover they made the right choice when they see their children's confidence return.

The 87.3% pass rate makes for good headlines. The 51% completion rate speaks for itself. And the hundreds of families enrolling at CambriLearn every month are making a different choice: not to wait for the system to change, but to change the system their children learn in.

Is CambriLearn right for your family?

If you're reading this and recognising your own child's struggles, you're not alone. Thousands of South African families have already made the switch to online homeschooling, and they're not looking back.

Download CambriLearn's comprehensive curriculum guide to understand your options across International GCSE and A Level, Pearson Edexcel, CAPS, KABV, and US K-12. Discover how online homeschooling works, what parents and students experience, and whether it's the right fit for your family's needs.

Your child isn't the problem. The system is. And you don't have to wait for it to change.

Visit www.cambrilearn.com or call to speak with an enrolment adviser who can answer your questions and help you understand whether CambriLearn is right for your child. Because every month you wait is another month of potential unrealised.

The question isn't whether your child can succeed. It's whether you'll give them the opportunity to prove it.