Poor Matric Results

One of the problems contributing to poor educational standards and bad matriculation results is the culture. Culture in our area is much more important than education because when learners reach a certain age, they have to leave school and go for initiation school where they are taught life skills culturally. Learners loose three months of schooling and normally they do not write mid-year examination.
The area of research is culture and how culture and school can meet and reach a consensus where a learner will practice his/her culture at the same time get educated. Learners have a constitutional right to practice their culture and also have a right to education.
Motivation for the identified problem
The area in which I work, situated in rural KwaZulu-Natal, there are Sotho people where culture is very important to them. The culture plays a major role in their lives in a sense that women are not that recognised. Boys and girls have to go to initiation school whenever it suits the elders and the people who own these schools. These schools are too many and they compete with each to get learners to attend to their schools.
The most common thing among these learners is the competition amongst themselves because those who do not go to school or who are yet to go school are not taken seriously in their culture. Learners who are not circumcised are regarded as ‘boys’ and do not enjoy some of the benefits enjoyed by the circumcised.
This contributes to poor education and matriculation results because circumcised learners sometimes refuse to take any punishment from educators. Once circumcised, he is regarded as a man and he can get married. Some learners are married. How can you punish a married man at school or how can a wife be punished.
Most young girls do not pay attention to their school work because when they are circumcised, they can get married. Ukuthwala, in IsiZulu, is commonly practiced in this area where a woman is taken by a man or group of men to marry someone. Constitutionally, that is kidnapping. A woman is sometimes not able to choose her partner.
The problem here is not the culture, but people cause problems by abusing the culture for their personal gain.
The people I have spoken to also echoed that the culture is not the problem since the culture identifies a person. But people abuse the culture and manipulate people.