Letter - I had always thought that the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, didn’t have much upstairs.
But I was wrong. She’s brilliant.
She has come up with a simple solution to a problem that has been bedevilling our education since the ANC came into power: the high failure rate in schools.
Her solution? Lower the pass mark.
Why break your back and improve the quality of teaching and learning when you can simply lower the pass mark yet again to a ridiculous level?
It will give every child a chance to pass without any difficulty and will take the wind out of the sails of all those who have been critical of her abilities.
All the pupils have to do is go to school and spend some time in the classroom to pass at the end of the year.
Already the pass mark in some matric subjects is 33% and they still fail in their thousands.
Her plan is to lower the pass mark in grades 7, 8 and 9 to 40% for the mother tongue and 30% in three other subjects for pupils to progress with ease to the next grade.
What more can a child ask for when it’s so easy, with everything dished out on a plate?
Isn’t that what free education is all about?
Fortunately the unions were sensible enough to reject her proposal.
But President Cyril Ramaphosa wasn’t.
Even though education gobbles up the biggest slice of the budget and wallows in the gutter, Motshekga wasn’t given the chop.
She is breeding a future generation of incompetent adults by promoting mediocrity instead of quality.
This is counter-productive to the economic upliftment and prosperity of the masses. How low can she go! Isn’t there any one more capable than her?
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