Don’t call on us to celebrate matric failure again – activist

As the department of basic education takes centre stage amid the release of matric exam results, an education justice activist is urging the minister, Angie Motshekga, to refrain from calling on South Africans to celebrate failure “again”.

This comes ahead of the big reveal tomorrow after the department survived another scandalous year with few victories.

Armed with statistics, Zama Mthunzi said while using it as an opportunity to give “a false sense that our basic education system works”, there were several things the department tried to conceal.

He said: “The minister will not speak about the 43% (1,090,254 enrolled for Grade 1 in 2008, 620,891 registered to write the 2019 final exams) who dropped out before reaching matric.

“She will not speak about the continuing decline in the number of pupils who enrol for matric (KwaZulu-Natal registered 147,953 last year, compared to 151,932 the previous year, and Limpopo registered 94,563 pupils, a decline from 98,834 in 2018) and she will not speak about the 52% of pupils who repeat at least one grade before they reach Grade 12.

“It is important to highlight the failures of our basic education system. Any institution that values success looks into its challenges and thinks of solutions.

“Minister Angie Motshekga has not done this and we are constantly reminded by the dire crisis that young South Africans find themselves in. School remains one of the few avenues for young people to access opportunities. Most pupils who do not pass Grade 12 remain stuck in poverty and unemployment for life.

“The dire social ills [youth unemployment at 55%, drug abuse, inequality] faced by young people continue to show how the school system fails the majority of them.

“It seems the minister will continue to dumb down the education system as long as she gets the highly incorrect pass rate to keep us in the dark.

“The reported pass rate has been increasing, from 60.2% to a record of 78.2%, in the past 10 years. This is purely a function of more students being held back and dropping out, not a true reflection of success.”

Solving the crisis, he said, could include radical reform of education policy, a large investment in early child development, sufficient support for schools and thorough monitoring of pupils’ progress.

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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