Wheels come off at foundation phase

An education expert believes a fundamental problem with SA’s education system is that not all students are equipped with the basics in primary school.

This comes after the Spectator Index ranked SA’s youth unemployment rate as the highest in the world.

Of the countries it ranked‚ the Spectator Index said the five countries with the highest youth unemployment were SA at 52.8%‚ followed by Greece (36.8%)‚ Spain (34.9%)‚ Nigeria (33.1%) and Italy (32.5%).

SA’s poor foundation-phase education system has repeatedly been linked to the country’s skills shortage.

Education analyst Nic Spaull on Tuesday said that 78% of Grade 4 children “can’t read for meaning in any language and 61% of Grade 5s can’t do basic maths”.

“I think that is where the wheels come off and that’s where we should be focusing our attention.”

Last week‚ basic education minister Angie Motshekga said the matric class of 2018 achieved an overall pass rate of 78.2% – an improvement on the previous year.

The class of 2017 achieved a 75.1% pass rate‚ itself an improvement from the 72.5% pass rate in 2016.

Spaull has raised concerns about the 2018 matric results‚ especially the high dropout rate of pupils before they reach Grade 12. In a tweet last week he promised to keep revealing the truth behind the figures‚ “until minister of education Angie Motshekga starts reporting and emphasising the 400‚000 kids that dropped out of school”.

He added that there was no proof of their education status and that these dropouts were “almost certainly unemployed” and don’t go on to other education and training (FET) institutions.

He said pupils previously had to get 50% or more in four designated subjects – but now they only need 50% or more in any four subjects.

The designated list was a list of 18 subjects which included geography‚ mathematics‚ business studies‚ economics‚ mathematics literacy‚ accounting‚ history and consumer studies.

“So tourism and hospitality, which weren’t eligible subjects, are now eligible subjects. This is the first year this is the case. That explains a lot of the 12% increase in bachelor passes.”

Economist Mike Schussler responded to Spaull on Twitter‚ commenting: “Explains a lot. Will the new graduates actually get jobs? Judging from the QLFS [quarterly labour force survey] numbers less are. This is a worry as the skills we need are not the capabilities the paper says young people have.”

The QLFS released by Statistics South Africa in November 2018 revealed that there were 6.2 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 who were unemployed.

To combat unemployment‚ President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched the Youth Employment Service initiative in 2018. Its aim is to give a million young people “work opportunities” in the next three years.

SA also hosted a jobs summit‚ attended by representatives of the public and private sectors.

The Spectator Index ranked SA’s youth unemployment rate as the highest in the world