South Africa: Prisoners to Get Compulsory Education

Adult education courses will be compulsory for prisoners starting next year, the department of correctional services said on Thursday.

Prisoners would be expected to complete the Adult Basic Education Training (ABET) programme from levels one to four, the department said in a statement.

"We are working towards turning our prisons into schools, and we want offenders to read, read, read, study, study, study and work, work, work," the statement read.

"[The] key to rehabilitation is empowering offenders to have skills to function effectively in society on their release but, equally important, is to ensure that offenders are actively involved in productive activity."

The department said the education courses were important for rehabilitating prisoners before they were released back into their communities.

Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele called on inmates studying for matric to improve their pass rate to 100 percent from the 90 percent average of the past six years.

The department said there were 1873 inmates studying for Grade 12 in the prison system.

Another 1049 inmates were studying for a post-matric education or training qualifications.

-  SAPA