Cape Town - Amid ongoing criticism of its progression policy for Grade 10 and 11 pupils, the Department of Basic Education has announced new criteria which pupils will have to meet in order to be progressed to the next grade.
The policy determines that pupils may only be retained once in Grades 10 to 12, which means that if they have repeated Grade 10 or 11 and then failed one of these two grades again, they have to be progressed to the next grade.
Thousands of pupils have been progressed, without meeting the pass requirements for these two grades, since 2013, and there have been several calls for the policy to be scrapped.
Earlier this year, Education MEC Debbie Schäfer asked Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to scrap the progression regulations.
“What we have found, though, is that some of our progressed learners are either simply not being assisted to attain the requisite standards in some cases, are not able to in others, and when they get older, they are not applying themselves because they know that they will be progressed to the next grade whether they actually pass or not.
“This last one is a particularly perverse incentive,” she said.
The staff and governing body of Spine Road High in Mitchells Plain expressed their concerns about progression in a letter to the Cape Argus in July.
“At Spine Road High School we were forced by departmental officials to promote 48 pupils in Grade 11 who failed dismally.
“In January, we requested support through our circuit manager. No support has been forthcoming,” the letter stated.
According to a Department of Basic Education circular, dated November 9, the Council of Education Ministers have now determined new criteria which pupils will have to meet to be progressed.
This included that the pupil has to attain 30 percent in at least four subjects, which has to include the language of learning and teaching of the school.
Another criterion is that they should have attended school on a regular basis and should not have been absent for 20 or more days without a valid reason.
On Friday, Schäfer said the regulations should be repealed in total.
“However, we welcome the fact that there are now criteria that promote accountability so that learners don’t think that they don’t have to do any work and they will still be pushed through to the next grade.”
South Peninsula High principal Brian Isaacs said the Department of Basic Education “just changes the rules as they go along”.
He said that instead of giving in on progression, the department was just introducing more changes. Isaacs said it was already late in the year and schools now had to inform pupils the criteria had changed.
Cape Argus