A total of 153,392 school-aged children left the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Limpopo, and the North West between 2001 and 2007, the SA Institute of Race Relations said on Tuesday.
"But only 90,998 moved into those provinces," SAIRR researcher Thuthukani Ndebele said in a statement.
"The data, sourced from an answer by the minister of basic education to a parliamentary query, also revealed that Gauteng and the Western Cape were the preferred destinations of school children as they experienced net in-migration of 64,313 and 22,268 respectively," said Ndebele.
The migration was of school children aged between six and 18.
"The Eastern Cape had total school-age out-migration of 55,963. Only 24,045... migrants moved to the province, resulting in net out-migration of 31,918, the highest in the country," he said in a statement.
Limpopo reported 46,114 school migrants leaving and 20,657 moving into the province.
"The Eastern Cape and Limpopo in particular, have limited resources and poor infrastructure, resulting in migrants searching for better educational opportunities in provinces such as Gauteng and the Western Cape."
The Free State recorded 1657 pupils leaving the province, and the North West 3362.
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