Matrics pass, but the school system fails

THE country’s reaction to the matric exam results has been relief that the pass rate did not plummet. But there have been complaints about “progressed” pupils and distrust of the figures released by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.

This last should concern the government most. It is the result of two factors. The first, and most worrying, is the trust deficit the government is creating between itself and the citizenry through its nefarious activities. More and more ordinary South Africans do not trust the government and suspect it of crookery, also regarding the matric results.

On the ruling party’s watch since 1994, the matric pass rate has been massaged and at times manipulated. All sorts of reasons have been cooked up over the years to make politicians and education department heads look better.

In the end, there is a price to pay. That price is credibility, as the governing party is learning everywhere. But the latest results also brought two additional issues into focus.

The first is that of dropouts. There is no honour in maintaining or improving the matric pass rate if it is premised on our children giving up even before they reach matric.

Take the Free State. It is basking in the glory of an 88% pass rate — except many do not believe that figure to be realistic.

And those who doubt the veracity of the figure are correct. Two years ago, the Free State had 55 293 pupils in Grade 10. This year there were only 26 786 matriculants in that province. That means 28 507 pupils did not even attempt matric. They might not have failed, but the education system certainly failed them. Their futures are now as grim as those who attempted, yet failed, to pass matric.

If you calculate the number of successful Free State matriculants as a percentage of the total number of Grade 10s two years ago, the Free State pass rate falls to a mere 42.7%, which is nothing to be proud of.

Nationally, the dropout rate between grades 10 and 12 is 44.6% (490 000 young South Africans who gave up). That means only 40.2% who registered for Grade 10 two years ago passed matric last year.

That said, an academic matric is not the only way to progress in life (technical and vocational education and training colleges and apprenticeships come to mind), and the pass rate can never be the measure of an exam’s credibility — that has more to do with the standard of the papers and the levels required to pass.

In defence of the national examinations authority Umalusi, its work is benchmarked against and by the best in the world, we are told.

In addition to the issues of credibility and the dropout rate, another variant made headlines in the matric debate this year: “progressed” pupils. These are learners who advance to the next school year despite not meeting the criteria to pass.

Teachers and school principals have strongly opposed this policy of the Education Department, which aims to allow pupils to progress with their age groups. In the end, quite predictably, they fail matric miserably. No one is served by such chicanery.

While it is unclear what the solution is, it is plain the education authorities must return to the drawing board as far as repeaters, dropouts, condoned students and progressed pupils are concerned.

We demand the best for our children, and the present system simply doesn’t cut it.