Numbers, as the past has proven, are not always the strong point of our government officials. When reporting back to parliament – or the country – many are killed by ministers… or even the president.
Unsurprisingly, the National Senior Certificate (NSC) matric pass rate of 80.1% – announced by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Thursday – is being disputed.
It’s all politics – and no element of life is off-limits to opposition parties and critics of the government and the education system. They believe that the increase of 3.7% in the previous year cannot be true.
Also read: Matric Class of 2022 faces difficulties unlike any other post-1994
The Democratic Alliance (DA) claims the actual figure is only 54.6%, up from 50.4% in 2021 – if you take into account the number of pupils who drop out and never enter matric.
Former DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, was also appalled. The argument is good.
In a statement the DA said: “Many simply end their education. What makes the national failure rate 45.4% and the high dropout rate especially high is the large number of students contributing to the country’s staggering youth unemployment of 59.6% (six out of every 10 South Africans who are unemployed) – more than 3.5 million young people are unemployed. in education, employment or any skills training.”
He added: “Considering that the pass mark in some subjects is less than 30%, only 38.4% of matrics obtained a bachelor’s degree – a very low number compared to the Independent Examination Board’s (IEB) bachelor’s degree of 89.32%.”
Also read: Businesses must help skills development to reduce unemployment – experts
Number arguments aside. No one should be removed from the class of 2022. The three senior years were affected by Covid. However, the majority have found a way. We wish them the best.
If they can break through those barriers, there’s no stopping them – even in today’s tough environment.