Poor performance in maths and language subjects. This was the reason for the dip of two percentage points in the KwaZulu-Natal matric pass rate, the Education Department said on Thursday.
Addressing a briefing on the results yesterday, education superintendent-general Nkosinathi Sishi said the slight decrease in the pass rate, from 70.7 percent in 2010 to 68.1 percent last year, should be viewed in the context of the province’s performances in certain subject categories.
Sishi said the performance in maths was particularly poor; there had been an eight percentage point decline in the pass rate from 47.6 percent in 2010 to 39.6 percent last year.
“The way the system works is that every pupil has to do mathematics or maths literacy. If you fail this subject, you immediately make it difficult for yourself to pass the year.” This was because pupils who failed maths would have to perform well in their remaining subjects to pass matric.
In his address, Education MEC Senzo Mchunu also lamented the poor maths performance.
“Mathematics continues to pose a serious challenge to all of us. The challenge is even greater if you look at the decline. In physical science, it was a bit better as we went over 50 percent (pass rate of more than 50 percent), but we have to work at doing better in these two areas.”
Sishi added that languages were also a stumbling block for many pupils.
However, all was not doom and gloom, as KZN had produced 27 397 matriculants, the second-highest number in the country after Gauteng, with passes that enabled them to enter universities “which indicates we are producing quality passes”.
Education experts and teachers’ unions said the ongoing shortage of qualified maths and science teachers continued to handicap pupils’ performance.
Edith Dempster, senior education lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, believes teachers’ qualifications should be addressed and that the poor maths results could be improved by building a solid foundation in children’s formative schooling years.
“It can’t be corrected when pupils arrive in Grade 10,” she said.
Dempster did not believe the dip in the overall pass rate for the province was cause for concern, as it was not a significant decrease and because there had been significant gains in the number of KZN pupils passing Grade 12 in previous years.
Anthony Pierce, KZN CEO of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA, said the decline in the pass rate was no cause for panic, and that the results would fluctuate between 68 percent and 70 percent over the next few years.
SA Democratic Teachers Union provincial secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi believed the quality of passes was as critical as the quantity, and that the 2011 results positively reflected the emphasis placed on achieving good passes.
However, National Teachers Union (Natu) deputy president Allen Thompson said there was no excuse for failure: “The drop is in fact significant because there was an increase nationally.”
Thompson said teachers needed incentives to remain in the state school system and to be attracted to rural areas.
“We are running short of qualified teachers, especially in maths and science, in rural areas. We don’t have enough people who do well in these subjects who go on to become teachers. We should be looking at students studying BCom and BSc and, in their final year, give them bursaries to become teachers.”
Doron Isaacs, of Equal Education, said nearly half the children who started school in 2000, and who should have matriculated last year, had dropped out along the way.
“At least 923 463 pupils began Grade 1 in 2000, but only 496 090 wrote matric in 2011. Therefore, nearly half dropped out of school along the way.
“Thus, the true pass rate is approximately 38 percent,” said Isaacs.
Efficient Group economist Merina Willemse said the government should start monitoring progress and drop-out rates from primary school level. Not only did school drop-outs face unemployment, but even matriculants would battle to find jobs.
Sasfin economist David Shapiro agreed. “We hear about all the distinctions achieved at the end of a school year; it sounds good and everyone celebrates for a day. But, in reality, when these pupils go out into the world to try to find jobs, they are useless because they have a piece of paper which is of no use to anyone,” he said.
Shapiro said education should be more focused on vocational training, so that pupils were trained to do something for which there was a need when they left school.
Professor Ruksana Osman, head of Wits University’s School of Education, said pupils probably dropped out more for socio-economic reasons than because they were deliberately held back by teachers wanting to improve pass rates.
Professor Francis Faller, Wits School of Education’s deputy head, said the grade 3 and 6 assessments indicated a major problem throughout the education system.
“We’re not going to get it right by focusing on Grade 12,” he said.
“Many people are managing to pass the senior certificate without achieving competence in key areas.” – additional reporting Louise Flanagan and Anna Cox - The Mercury