Afriforum debunks matric pass rate
While the increase in the matric pass rate is being celebrated, some education experts and organisations have questioned the validity of the recently announced matric results.
In response to the announcement by the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, AfriForum Deputy CEO Alana Bailey said that if one were to compare the number of learners who enrolled in Grade 1 in 2002 and successfully completed Grade 12 in 2013, the actual pass rate is less than 38 percent.
According to Bailey, the implementation of a youth wage subsidy is of little significance when the Department of Basic Education delivers a decreasing number of employable people.
“Independent tests find that the literacy and numeracy levels of matriculants often are so low that they have little to offer employers. The prospect of learners who do not complete their school careers is even worse. The youth is being failed dismally,” said Bailey.
She said it essential for the department to accept responsibility and find solutions in co-operation with education experts for issues such as the delivery of textbooks, inefficient curriculum options, the paralysing actions of some education unions, inadequate training opportunities for teachers, dysfunctional schools and a lack of mother-tongue education.
“Until then, the annual celebration of a supposedly increasing matric pass rate amounts to little more than a political spin exercise that takes place at the cost of South Africa and all of its people,” Bailey concluded.
