Cape Town - An estimated 1 700 Western Cape matric candidates who failed Grade 11 last year but were progressed to Grade 12 are opting to “modulate” their matric, meaning they will only being examined on some of their subjects this year.
In September, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that progressed pupils who had not performed well in the June and September exams would be allowed to write exams in only some of their subjects this year, and be examined on the rest next year.
She indicated that the option would be discussed with pupils and their parents.
But some Western Cape principals have described the plan as madness and questioned how teachers would be able to support the pupils over two years and simultaneously deal with the new cohort of pupils, which would include progressed pupils.
Last year 5 220 pupils were moved to matric, despite not meeting the requirements to pass Grade 11.
The Western Cape Education Department said 4 851 of them registered for the final matric exams.
The department could not provide the exact number of pupils who had opted to modulate their matric because pupils were still able to make their selections until the end of the exams on November 27.
Jessica Shelver, spokeswoman for Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, said: “Information from schools seemed to indicate that they thought about 1 700 learners might decide not to write the full examination, but we have no way of knowing until after the examination and until after results have been processed.”
Most of the pupils who had chosen to modulate their exams were expected to write three subjects this year and the remaining three next year.
Asked if the pupils would return to class next year or only return to write their exams, Shelver said this was unknown at this stage. She said that would only be clear once schools re-opened in January, but pupils would have to inform their schools in advance.
In September, the Council of Education Ministers agreed to refine the progression policy “going forward” and to look at setting specific requirements for the progression of pupils.
This could, for example, include that they would have to pass the language of learning and teaching and their attendance record might also be taken into account.
The council consists of the education minister, the deputy minister and the nine provincial education MECs.
The national and provincial matric results are expected to be released on January 5, while individual candidates’ results will be released on January 6.
Cape Argus
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