Durban - Pupils who think they can scrape through the grades leading up to matric will have to pull up their socks – the national education policy which allows pupils to fail only once between grades 10 and 12 may be scrapped.
In a notice in the Government Gazette late last month, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga stated her intention to amend existing policy and remove the provision that a pupil may repeat only once from grades 10 to 12.
The policy, introduced amid criticism in 2012, was to stop “gatekeeping” by schools, and the alarming rate at which pupils were dropping out.
Schools have been known to hold back Grade 11 pupils who are at risk of failing matric.
Various research reports, produced by the department since 2007, point to the high rate of repetition in grades 10 and 11 as the reason why roughly only half of 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.
The policy already applies in grades 1 to 9. A child can only repeat once in a phase – between Grade 1 and 3; 4 and 6; and 7 and 9.
Despite being asked several times, the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department has yet to disclose how many pupils who failed Grade 11 last year were pushed through into the matric “Class of 2014”.
Educationists, including teachers’ union leaders and the heads of school governing body associations, have criticised the policy as being unfair to children and to teachers.
They said the school system was not able to offer struggling pupils, who were promoted, the specialised and individual attention needed to eventually pass matric.
On Sunday, in explaining the proposed policy U-turn, Basic Education Department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said removing the provision was in the interests of improving schooling quality.
The department was stuck between a rock and a hard place – trying to arrest the high drop-out rate, but also not wanting to give pupils a free ride to the next grade.
However, Mhlanga said the department was set on intensifying its efforts and helping children to pass on merit.
To pass grades 10, 11 and 12, pupils must earn 40% in three subjects including their home language, and 30% in three other subjects.
As The Mercury reported last month, the department planned to raise the much-maligned pass mark requirement for matric in two to three years, and has already upped the pass requirement for grades 7-9.
Last year, those pupils had to pass only seven of their nine subjects, and obtain a mark of 40% in one language and 30% in a second language, to pass the year. But, with the introduction of the new Caps curriculum, pupils in these grades this year had to pass eight of their nine subjects, score at least 50% in their home language, and a minimum of 40% for their first additional language.
The Government Gazette notice also revealed a draft amendment on the combinations of subjects pupils can take on.
Motshekga proposes that pupils who take physical sciences, life sciences, agricultural sciences, accounting, economics and geography be compelled to also take maths (not maths literacy).
This will likely not find favour with some educationists.
Basil Manuel, president of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa), pointed out that such a rule would significantly narrow the range of subject choices for pupils who did not take maths.
He also did not believe it necessary for geography pupils to have to master maths.
“This amendment seems innocuous but has far-reaching consequences. I’ve known hundreds of children who got excellent marks in geography without having to take maths. You also don’t need maths for the life sciences.”
But the department’s aim was to ensure that pupils had greater options when it came to study and career paths, Mhlanga said. Many university degree programmes re- quired maths for admission – not maths literacy.
“We have identified a need to regulate and tighten the cluster of subjects that learners can take if they want to follow certain careers.
“There have been cases where learners would take a certain combination of subjects only to find later that they can’t pursue their career of choice because they don’t have a certain subject that is critical for admission,” Mhlanga said.
The Mercury