million
Ferial Haffajee
The high matric failure rate has cost the state more than R100-million, raising questions about the efficacy of the examination system.
With all the results now in, the average matric pass rate is 55,1%.
The financial losses incurred stand in sharp contrast to the desperate needs of poor schools. Almost seven in 10 schools do not have adequate books and many more do not have libraries. One in three pupils will not carry rudimentary tools like pencils and notebooks in their bags when schools open next week.
“Matric is a less than perfect indicator of what a learner has learnt. It is largely a selection measure,” says Salim Vally of the Education Policy Unit in Johannesburg.
Even this function of the exam is dwindling. Statistics show that, at most, only two in 10 of this year’s matriculants will find jobs next year and most quality universities have entrance requirements far higher than the official matriculation exemption standard.
The Department of Education acknowledges the failings of the single exam system, which is the antithesis of its new Curriculum 2005.
“A single exam is not a good predictor of achievement. That said, it remains the most visible and tangible indicator,” says Duncan Hindle of the national education department. The government this week claimed a matric victory with an average 2,5% increase in the pass rate reported across six provinces, excluding KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
KwaZulu-Natal’s pass rate declined by 3,7 percentage points and the Eastern Cape by one percentage point, while Mpumalanga’s whopping 20,4 percentage point increase is the subject of a full-scale investigation. Each province sets its own exams, and most sectors have questioned Mpumalanga’s astonishing turnaround.
South Africa’s national private matric exams, set by the Independent Examination Board, saw an improvement from a 96% pass rate in 1997 to 98%.
The state has welcomed the results because they “arrest the decline” and symbolise better stability and administration in education. The results are higher than last year’s but still lower than 1996.
Educationists warn that it takes between two and three years to discern an upward trend. Economist Tony Twine says it will take between 12 and 17 years to begin churning out the quality and quantity of graduates the economy needs.