What the numbers won’t tell

AS ALWAYS, the numbers tell the story: 78.2% of the class of

2018 passed their matric – up 3.1 percentage points from the year before; the fourth largest cohort of learners to write matric in history.

But they also tell other stories: of the drop-out rate between the number of children who started school 13 years ago and those who eventually had the opportunity to sit down to write last year; or, of the number of prospective university students who now can – and thanks to former president Jacob Zuma – access state funding and the disparity in the actual places available at tertiary institutions. The numbers will also tell you about the crisis level of unemployment in this country – in particular youth unemployment.

What the numbers won’t tell you are the stories of triumph of young South Africans – and young Africans – who overcame formidable odds; from poverty to prejudice, disability, disease and death, to get their national senior certificates.

The numbers won’t tell you of children who had to hold down piece jobs and study by candlelight, they won’t tell you either of South Africans who have been accepted at undergraduate level to study at some of the finest universities of the world – on the strength of their South African education.

We have major problems in this country, unimaginably large ones, but we are also making progress – especially when we look at this cohort; the first generation to be born this century.

Our system is not perfect, far from it, and the matric certificate is certainly not the mythical passport to adult life that some fondly believe it should be, but it is a key to a door that leads onto a succession of other doors in the often-confusing maze that is life.

Let’s celebrate with the teachers, the parents and grandparents – and most importantly – the class of 2018 for what they have accomplished.