The Great Matric Fraud

sairr.org.za

An analysis of last year’s matric examinations is to be published in the upcoming South Africa Survey, and a worrying trend emerges. Although a cursory glance at the results would suggest that South African pupils are doing relatively well, a more detailed analysis shows that there is cause for concern.

Currently in order to pass a subject, or to ‘achieve’, to use the parlance of the Department of Education, a pupil needs to get only 30% or more for a subject. One of the primary roles of high school education is to prepare children for tertiary education and the world of work. At university, a student needs at least 50% to pass a subject, while employers will also expect that more than 30% of an employees’ work is satisfactory. It is questionable whether allowing pupils to pass with only 30% prepares them adequately for educational opportunities after school.

In order to be granted a National Senior Certificate (NSC), or to pass matric, a pupil is required to pass three subjects with at least 40%, one of which must be an official language at 1st language level. The pupil must also achieve 30% or more in three other subjects to be granted an NSC.

Despite these low matriculation standards, the number of pupils passing, or ‘achieving’, in certain subjects, is cause for concern. Below shows the proportion of pupils writing these subjects who failed outright (by failing to get 30% or more), and those who failed to get 40%. The proportion failing to get 40% or higher includes those who failed outright..

Mathematics
Number of candidates who wrote - 298 821
Outright failure (proportion of candidates who failed to get 30% and above) - 54.3%
Proportion of candidates who failed to get 40% and above - 60.5%

Physical Science
Number of candidates who wrote - 218 156
Outright failure (proportion of candidates who failed to get 30% and above) - 45.1%
Proportion of candidates who failed to get 40% and above - 62.8%

Accounting
Number of candidates who wrote - 176 078
Outright failure (proportion of candidates who failed to get 30% and above) - 38.6%
Proportion of candidates who failed to get 40% and above - 60.0%

Less than 40% of the pupils who wrote matric in 2008 managed to pass Mathematics or Physical Science with more than 40%. The figures for Accounting are not much better. Only 40% of pupils who wrote Accounting managed to get 40% or more. For Geography and Life Sciences, only about 50% of pupils who wrote managed to get 40% or more for these subjects. These figures show that the wish of the minister of higher education and training, Dr Blade Nzimande, to increase access to university education will be extremely difficult to fulfil in the near future.

Conversely, pass rates for certain subjects, especially languages, are very high. More than 97% of pupils got 40% or more for 1st language English. The proportion of pupils who got more than 40% for 1st language Afrikaans was over 99%. The figures are similar for South Africa’s other nine official languages. Of these languages, the one with the lowest proportion of pupils who got 40% or more for the subject at 1st language level was Ndebele, where 97.8% of those who wrote managed 40% of more. In every one of the other languages more than 98% of pupils managed to get 40% or more.

Why is there such a gap between the proportion of pupils passing languages, and those passing more figure-oriented subjects? Either South African pupils are linguistic geniuses, but dunces when it comes to anything involving figures and calculations, or there is something wrong with our school system. The latter is probably the correct explanation.

The current threshold needed in order to pass a subject at school level is too low. This will encourage mediocrity rather than excellence in the school system. It must be asked of the new minister of basic education, Ms Angie Motshekga, who clearly demands excellence when it comes to her official vehicles, whether she will be so accepting of academic mediocrity in the South African school system.