With annual matric results ‘fever’ well and truly behind us, it is perhaps an opportune time to provide a reflection on the state of our basic education system from the business point of view. Firstly, in financial terms, education remains the largest line item, currently at around R200-billion. On a simple financial return point of view, few would be content with the dividends being generated by this massive national investment. Commentator Caiphus Kgosana, writing in the Sunday Times last week, describes it as ‘a system that produces unemployable and unskilled youths’.
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Progress
In terms of resource management, with provinces spending upwards of 80 percent of that amount on salaries, this scenario is clearly unsustainable. The huge backlog in the infrastructure of schools (such as water, sanitation and furniture) is another symptom of this.
While there has been some progress noted by academics in terms of the increase in grade 12 graduates with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, a lot more needs to be done. There is a general perception in the business sector that the relaxation of pass marks to achieve a matric pass has led to a poorer quality of matriculant, even those with diploma and bachelor’s passes.
Employment pool
The reality of this situation is that very few employers are willing to employ new staff with just a matric pass – it is seen as a qualifier for consideration.
This is exacerbated by the fact that there exists a ‘buyers’ market’ for employers with the large pool of unemployed graduates competing directly with new matriculants.
The other consequence of this relaxation of pass thresholds (some academics such as Professor Jonathan Jansen have been less diplomatic, referring to this as ‘dumbing down’), is that tertiary institutions have been put under pressure by the influx of students who, while on paper have qualified to enroll for bachelor’s degrees, are functionally in need of a great deal of support to cope with the rigours of first year university.
Wider focus
Thirdly, the absolute focus on grade 12 as the pinnacle of the basic education system has compromised lower areas of the system. Recent research has revealed that a large portion of grade
4 students are functionally illiterate and do not possess the mathematical skills appropriate to their age groups. This is surely reflective of a need to revisit the resources being applied to early childhood development (ECD) phases in the system.
Finally, there must be an argument to reconsider a second exit stream from the secondary phase. During my school years, a number of teachers had been able to qualify based on a Junior Certificate (JC), which allowed an exit in (then) standard 8. Similarly, many were able to enter the artisan stream based on completing the JC.
After matriculating, Vijay Naidoo studied Economics in the UK. Upon his return, hejoined the family construction business as MD for 10 years.
He subsequently joined his sister in their furniture manufacturing business as director for quality assurance and operations. He was responsible for all quality aspects of their products, and led the project to the business achieving an ISO 9000 quality accreditation. As an export focused business, this was important for our international competitiveness.
Mr Naidoo has an abiding interest in quality management and productivity improvement, particularly in manufacturing.
More recently, he has focused a lot of his time on giving back to the community by way of mentorship of small businesses and sitting on the executive of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce. He also sits on the Board of the Ugu South Coast Development Agency.
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