Durban - At least 12 000 failed Grade 11 pupils from KwaZulu-Natal have been promoted to matric this year, in accordance with national education policy.
The figure was revealed in a report prepared for the provincial education portfolio committee.
The policy, referred to as the progression policy, which allows pupils to fail only once between grades 10 and 12, is under review.
The report, presented to the portfolio committee by KZN Education Department head Nkosinathi Sishi, reveals that the Umkhanyakude district (Jozini) has the largest number of pupils (3 024) who failed Grade 11 last year, but who are in matric this year.
The total number of KZN pupils to benefit from the policy totalled 12 049 - but this excluded pupils at schools in the Pinetown and Umgungundlovu (Pietermaritzburg) districts, for which figures were not yet available.
Until now, the department has been tight-lipped on this information, failing to disclose these figures despite numerous requests.
On Tuesday, Sishi said he was “cautiously confident” his department would be able to help these children pass matric.
Sishi said the department was better prepared to support this year’s crop of pupils than those who had been pushed through into the class of 2014.
Despite not meeting the requirements to be promoted into matric, the failed Grade 11 pupils who were pushed through showed “promise and potential”, Sishi said.
He argued that to have pupils repeatedly fail between grades 10 and 12 put them at risk of dropping out - a point often made by education officials in defence of the progression policy.
He conceded, however, that the policy required “well-trained and motivated” teachers.
Earlier this year, when members of the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on Basic Education were in KZN monitoring schooling, provincial education officials complained to MPs about the impact of the progression policy on the matric results.
MPs were told that in Amajuba, of the 1 344 Grade 11 pupils pushed through to matric last year, less than 20% matriculated.
When Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga released the matric results in January, she conceded that the various provincial education departments were unhappy with the progression policy.
However, she said, she would not have schools “guillotine” weak pupils in Grade 11 to protect their matric pass rates.
According to Motshekga, some of those pupils who had been pushed through had managed to pass and qualify for admission to university.
Despite this, in a notice in the Government Gazette in November, she stated her intention to remove this provision - two years after it was introduced as a measure to deter gatekeeping by schools, and plug the alarming drop-out rate.
As The Mercury has reported previously, various research reports produced by the department point to the high rate of repetition in grades 10 and 11 as why roughly only half of all children make it from Grade 1 to matric.
In introducing the policy, the department had argued that, in other countries, such policies had the support of education economists because money “wasted” on grade repetition could be spent on helping pupils pass the grade they were pushed into.
But in explaining the proposed policy U-turn last year, Basic Education Department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said it was in the interests of improving schooling quality.
The department was stuck between a rock and a hard place - trying to plug the high drop-out rate, but also not wanting to give pupils a free ride to the next grade. Whether the policy would be scrapped remained to be seen.
On Tuesday, Mhlanga said the department was still processing the comment it had received in reaction to the notice in the Government Gazette.
Pass mark will be revised
To pass grades 10, 11 and 12, pupils must earn 40% in three subjects including their home language, and 30% in three other subjects.
The Basic Education Department plans to up the much-maligned pass mark requirement for matric in two to three years, and has already upped the pass requirement for grades 7 to 9.
The number of failed Grade 11 pupils pushed through into Grade 12 this year in each education district, except the Pinetown district and Umgungundlovu (Pietermaritzburg), for which figures were not available, are:
Amajuba (Newcastle) 792
Ilembe (Ballito) 1 322
Sisonke (southern KZN) 766
Ugu (Port Shepstone) 236
Umkhanyakude (Jozini) 3 024
Umlazi (greater Durban) 1 601
Umzinyathi (Dundee) 325
Uthukela (Ladysmith) 1 520
Uthungulu (Richards Bay) 216
Zululand (Ulundi) 2 247
The Mercury