By Ragheema Mclean
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced on Thursday that the matric class of 2023 achieved a pass rate of 82.9%. The national matric pass rate is up by 2.8% from the 80.1% pass rate in 2022.
A total of 715 719 full time and 182 056 part time learners sat for the 2023 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations last year.
However, prominent academic and professor of education at Stellenbosch University Johnathan Jansen has criticised and raised concerns on the high matric pass rate.
Speaking on VOC Breakfast on Friday, Jansen claimed that the only reason why the pass rate is so high is “because it is easy to pass” and “because you can still pass certain subjects with 30 and 40 percents,” said Jansen.
“We need to ask ourselves do we accept the data of last that indicated that 81% of our children in grade 4 cannot read, or do we accept the announcement that 82,9% of kids passed matric– both of these things cannot be true,” he noted.
“As the results of the reading competency of our kids decline, the matric pass rate miraculously goes up every year. The schooling system in SA is in serious trouble.”
He further pointed out that around 478 000 learners dropped out of the system between grade 1 and 12.
Professor Jansen stressed:
“These results are meaningless, most of the learners who passed won’t get jobs.”
“Those we passed with university entrance won’t make it into the second year, there is no guarantee that the learners who passed with distinctions are going to pass at university level.”
Improving the education system
Jansen stressed that there is a dire need to address foundational issues in education and shift focus towards building strong educational foundations for every child.
“We’ve got our priorities all wrong, we are focusing on the wrong end on the schooling systems. We should not be only focusing on grade 12’s, we should be focusing on the foundations of education.”
Meanwhile, Jansen also emphasized the importance of allocating more resources to the foundational phase of learning.
Strengthening this phase, according to him, involves ensuring that children can read, write, and compete, laying the groundwork for sustained success throughout their educational journeys.
VOC News
Photo: VOCfm
