Abstract:

The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) is designed to provide a standardised, outcomes-based curriculum across South African schools. However, its implementation has posed significant challenges for learners in complex rural, multilingual, and urban township contexts, where systemic inequalities and contextual realities often hinder meaningful curriculum engagement. This qualitative desktop study critically examines the impact of CAPS on learners from these diverse and historically disadvantaged environments. Drawing on existing case studies, scholarly literature, and policy analysis, the study explores how language barriers, limited resources, socio-economic constraints, and contextual misalignment with CAPS contribute to educational disparities. Anchored in a social justice education framework, the study highlights how the standardised nature of CAPS often fails to accommodate the lived realities and linguistic diversity of learners in under-resourced settings. Evidence from the literature indicates that rigid pacing, language-of-learning mismatches, and a lack of teacher support in multilingual classrooms disproportionately affect learner participation, comprehension, and performance. In rural schools, infrastructural deficits and teacher shortages further compound these challenges, while in urban township schools, overcrowding and under-resourcing exacerbate curriculum delivery gaps. The study concludes that while CAPS aims to promote uniformity and equity, its one-size-fits-all approach may unintentionally reinforce existing inequalities. It calls for more flexible, context-responsive curriculum adaptations and improved teacher training to better support learners in marginalised contexts. These findings have implications for future curriculum reform and policy interventions aimed at achieving inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

Keywords:

CAPS, language barriers, rural schooling, multilingual education, urban township schools.