Despite the Western Cape having scored the highest matric pass rate in the country last year, only half of its learners reach matric, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Tuesday.
Addressing a sitting of the provincial parliament on expenditure trends and service delivery, Manuel said the high number of learners who dropped out of school was a cause for concern.
”Enrolment figures for 1999/2000 show that only 50% of learners that enrolled in grade one reached grade 12 — this is indicative of a high drop-out rate.
”The province needs to try and understand the factors that underline this pattern,” he said.
Provincial MPs, Manuel said, should also unpack the 83% matric pass rate attained by the province last year.
Quoting from a study undertaken by Professor Charles Simkins, Manuel said the distribution of senior mathematics certificates demonstrated that the divisions of race and class in 2004 were as strong as those inherited in 1994.
”The study of more than 6 000 schools shows that 79% of the country’s high schools fall into the poor-performing category … the majority of children attending these schools are poor and African.
”We need to look beyond pass rates to get a sense of the quality of education,” he said.
The results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Manuel said, were exceedingly worrying as they seemed to suggest that all of the history of disadvantage was being carried to the future.
”If education cannot break the inter-generational cycle of poverty and disadvantage, then nothing will,” he said.
However, Manuel commended the province’s healthcare system, which amongst other things, had the highest tuberculosis cure rate, 70%, and the highest ratio of doctors per 1 000 people, 0,67.
”This is the reflection of the wise choices that the successive governments have made over the years,” he said. — Sapa