Celebrate matric progress but also face reality
Announcing the release of last year’s matric results on Thursday, basic education minister Angie Motshekga said “we are indeed a system on the rise”. In her words, it was a remarkable story to tell. Indeed, it is. A national pass rate of 78.2%; the poorest schools producing 241,340 passes compared to 140,036 by wealthier schools; 33.6% of candidates achieving a bachelor’s pass and 74 of the 75 education districts attaining pass rates of 60% and above. What is also encouraging is that 59,129 of the 73,798 matrics who were recipients of social grants passed, including 27,573 with a bachelor’s pass. The government’s pro-poor policies, including no-fee schools and the national school feeding scheme, appear to be bearing fruit. This is cause for celebration.
However, there are serious question marks over whether the 78.2% national pass rate is an authentic and credible statistic. About 95,000 progressed pupils, who opted to write the exams over two sittings, in November and December last year and June this year, did not form part of the equation when the national pass rate was calculated. Many believe that these pupils, who are considered weak academically, would have brought the pass rate down had they been included.
A few years ago, prior to the introduction of the policy on progressed learners, many schools engaged in the abhorrent practice of gate-keeping or culling by deliberately failing weaker grade 11 pupils so that only the cream of the crop went to matric. They massaged their school’s pass rate in this way. But Motshekga argues that 20,122 of the 33,412 progressed learners who wrote all seven subjects and passed, the would-be-highschool repeaters and dropouts, now had a chance to study at university or at a technical and vocational education and training college. But the stark reality is that the throughput rate is poor. Of the more than 1.1-million pupils who enrolled in grade 1 in 2007, only 643,802 ended up in matric last year. The sharp decline in enrolment, especially from grade 10 upwards, is a major concern.
Developing strategies to retain learners in grades 10-12 is of utmost importance if we want to see more grade 1s completing matric 12 years later.