There is no need for an investigation into the Eastern Cape’s 8,2% improvement in its matric pass rate, Umalusi, the body responsible for monitoring matric examinations, said on Monday.
Dr Cassius Lubisi, the chairperson of Umalusi, denied Sunday media reports on that the statutory body would investigate the standard of the 2003 matriculation examinations, following controversy over whether the pass rate was manipulated and artificially inflated.
The results have improved by 24,4% since 1999.
Despite criticism by various bodies that the improvement of the Eastern Cape matric pass rate by 8,2% to 60% seemed questionable, Lubisi said there was no basis for an investigation.
”We are not even going to waste our time on this. We looked at the conduct of the senior certificate from the time the papers were set … to the time of marking. We were satisfied that the conduct was beyond reproach. There is no point in wasting taxpayers’ money and time to investigate.”
Lubisi said although they would not be investigating last year’s matric pass rate, they might be conducting various other studies which were part of ongoing research into education.
”One of the things we try to do, in order to inform ourselves and our thinking in terms of knowledge in secondary education, is research. For instance in 2003 we did a study on the new FET (Further Education and Training) curriculum for schools… and we compared it with other countries.
”We also did a study of vocational education and training and compared it with other countries,” he said.
Lubisi said in 2004 this tradition of doing research would continue.
He said one of the topics Umalusi was considering for research was ”looking at matric papers for the past 10 to 15 years, at how the papers have or have not changed”.
”For instance when I went to school English teaching emphasised the rules of grammar. But now, both in South Africa and everywhere, we use the communicative approach. Mathematics has gone through the same process.
”This has implications for the type of paper that you set. If we conducted the study it would be interesting to see how changes in the subjects have influenced way in which papers set.”
Lubisi emphasised the topic was only under discussion and Umalusi had not yet decided if they were going to do the research or what the parameters of the research would be. – Sapa