So the Matric Results Jamboree for 2020 has come and gone…with all its attendant hype and ceremony.

The ringmaster, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshega, with a suitable drumroll, unveiled a ‘pass rate’ of just on 82 percent from the 500 000-odd pupils who sat the 2019 examinations.

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Improvement

While some have lauded the slight improvement in the overall pass rates, a deeper analysis of the results is warranted.

The webpage of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) presents ‘A System on the Rise’, but is this really the case?

Firstly, just under 37 percent of the 2019 cohort achieved a pass that would enable them to enroll for a bachelor’s degree at an institution of higher learning.

Of these, only 54 percent achieved a pass in mathematics, with physical and life sciences faring somewhat better at 75 percent and 72 percent respectively.

Skill deficit

The sobering point about these figures though is that the pass mark sits at a mere 30 percent, which essentially means that even though the pupil might have qualified for a bachelor’s pass, they are essentially excluded from the bulk of ‘higher skilled’ tertiary courses such as engineering and other science and accounting based degrees – the areas where the country’s skill deficit are located.

The consequence of this of course, is that universities will be flooded with applicants for entrance to the humanities and social sciences degrees.

This is already evident in figures that the University of Johannesburg has released – it has received over 200 000 applications for a mere 10 500 places, and surely the pattern will be repeated throughout the country.

Degraded

The reality is that access to institutions of higher learning, particularly for bachelor’s degrees, needs to be based on the best performing students.

Our higher education system is being degraded and debased by the fact that the bar for entrance has been set too low, and the huge pool of unemployed graduates is surely evidence of this.

This is not to say that higher education should be the preserve of the very bright – a properly designed and managed higher education system will ensure that the options available to every qualifying student exiting grade 12 are matched to their abilities and critically, the needs of the country.

After matriculating, Vijay Naidoo studied Economics in the UK. Upon his return, he joined 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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