We ran a survey on News24 asking parents how they felt about homework. What is clear from the comments we received, is that the homework burden has increased since the introduction of CAPS and that children as young as grades 1 and 2 are spending hours doing homework every day.
Most parents complained that their children often only get to do their homework at the end of the day once the parents have returned from work – resulting in tired children struggling to focus and overworked parents having to prepare supper and do chores in-between.
It seems as if the majority of parents agree that smaller children should not be given homework and be allowed to play and dream, and that homework should only be (gradually) introduced in older grades. Even then the kids should receive only a moderate amount of homework.