Maimane petition calls for an end to 30% matric pass rate
A petition with over 10 000 signatures calling for an end to the 30% matric pass rate has been started by Mmusi Maimane, leader of the One SA Movement. Maimane called on the Minister of Basic Education to increase the matric pass rate, citing South Africa’s high unemployment, and the current pass rate “which is hurting South Africa’s pupils”.
Maimane says that a 30% pass mark undermines the intellect of South Africa’s youth. He also said it allows for obfuscation of the basic education crisis, education leaders' escape from accountability and the entrenchment of mediocrity and low expectations.
“The petition stems from the base mark with which the Department of Education uses to determine for itself how many people have passed at the end of the year, and so in all fairness, if it was bench marked at a mark higher, you will discover that our pass rate is actually much lower than that.
“Secondly, they use that to mask all the other failures in education, such as poor teacher training, such as the fact that we don’t remunerate teachers who excel, we don’t build good infrastructure and our children don’t learn to read for meaning when they are in primary school.
“(A total of) 75% of our young people are unemployed and the truth is, the majority of them are unemployable. What I’m arguing for is that if we were to move the pass rate up, we can begin to see how we can achieve higher outcomes in our society,” he said.
Despite his call to increase the “quality” of the education system, teacher unions believe that he is not in the arena of education to understand and appreciate the nature of the "pass percentage" requirements.
Mugwena Maluleke, general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, said the union is convinced that the petition has no merit. Raising the 30% pass requirement without providing the cognitive demand as represented by proficiency levels of each subject at such percentages, leaves the public confused with a directionless debate.
“The academic experts who worked on integrating House of Assembly, House of Delegates, House of Representatives, Bantu education, and Bantustan education examinations, benchmarked the weighting of each pass mark on international models to arrive at 30% as a lower pass requirement for a specific subject and as the pass requirement for exit.
“For example, the experts had to ask themselves what exactly comprised the apartheid regime's so-called standard grade and higher grade pass requirements, where the pass requirements were as low as H, G, and F, with respective percentages as low as 27%.
“The panel came to a conclusion that learners cannot be subjected to lower quality education represented by standard grade, but as is globally done, the ability of each learner must be taken into account by having the same quality examinations for all,” added Maluleke
According to David Millar, chief executive officer of the National Professional Teaching Organisation of South Africa, changing a number will not improve standards.
"There is no such thing as a 30% ‘standard’ to pass, as he puts it. It is a good example of ‘fake news’ and some in the public jump on this bandwagon to beat the DBE and the national minister.
"To pass matric, and other grades, there are other higher percentages required, ie thresholds of 40% for three subjects. Honing in on the lowest common denominator is mischievous, to say the least. Any education system must cater for different levels of achievement. No child is the same. An education system must cater for the needs of every child in it.
"However, it does stand to reason that perhaps it is time to engage in a conversation around South Africa’s ’grading system’ and its standards. With 30% being considered an 'elementary pass,' unfortunately, it puts a 29% ‘fail’ (barrier between success and failure) as one of the world’s lowest compared to thresholds in other countries (40%, 60% and even 75%). 30% is a low pass mark for a subject, I fully agree, but I reiterate, this is not a required standard to pass into the next grade.
“30% is insufficient, but it is one metric of measurements with other metrics needed," said Millar.
Thu, 13 Jan 2022 17:11:34 GMTMurphy Nganga
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