n South Africa, as in most of Africa, boys are pressured into dropping out of school to earn money for their families, while pregnancy is the main reason girls leave school.
She said South Africa has reached universal primary-school enrolment and has enrolment rates of 90% in secondary schools, and that girls are now in the majority at this level.
While it initially appeared that there were more girls in South Africa's school system, studies showed that this was not because boys were dropping out more easily.
"Instead, boys are flowing through the system more slowly than girls. Boys are repeating grades more frequently ... are dropping out of school and then coming back," Pandor said.