Next week brings with it two moments that should give South Africans pause. Public schools across the country will reopen for the new academic year and the matric results for the class of 2025 will be released.
These milestones inevitably reopen a long-standing and uncomfortable conversation. Few South Africans seriously dispute that our education system is in crisis. Despite repeated reform efforts and growing budgets, the system remains ill-equipped to prepare young people for a modern, competitive economy.
Years ago, I taught at a public high school in Gauteng. Experiencing the system from the inside — its rigidity, its constraints, and its daily struggles — left a lasting impression. It is why I acutely understand the frustration felt by parents and learners who want better for their children.
The consequences of a weak education system do not stop at the school gate. They follow young people into adulthood, shaping their prospects, limiting their opportunities and ultimately constraining economic growth. Education reform, therefore, is at the heart of our nation-building project.
Our education system is demonstrably failing to produce young people who are employable. Today, nearly two-thirds of the youth are not in employment, education or training, sitting idly at home with few prospects and little hope. This is due to a weak economy undergirded by an education system that does not equip learners with relevant skills, confidence or pathways into work. Poor education feeds a poorer economy, which in turn shuts the door on opportunity for millions of young South Africans.
When the minister of basic education announces the matric results on Monday, the headline figures will likely sound reassuring. What will receive far less attention, however, is a more troubling reality: only about 30% of those who pass matric will have achieved 50% or more in key gateway subjects such as mathematics, physical science, accounting, life sciences, economics and business studies.
What will receive far less attention is a more troubling reality: only about 30% of those who pass matric will have achieved 50% or more in key gateway subjects such as mathematics, physical science, accounting, life sciences, economics and business studies.
Too often, the department relies on headline pass rates while avoiding deeper questions about quality and outcomes. Yet numbers, when examined closely, cannot be spun.
The national pass rate is calculated using what are known as base pass marks, the National Senior Certificate standard. This is the lowest threshold at which a learner can be deemed to have passed. In practical terms, it allows learners to pass matric by achieving 30% in three subjects and 40% in another three, resulting in an average mark of roughly 35%. While legally permissible, this standard is educationally indefensible.
Allowing learners to pass subjects with marks as low as 30% has far-reaching consequences. It entrenches low expectations, conceals institutional underperformance and ultimately does a disservice to learners themselves.
Between 2015 and 2020, fewer than a third of matriculants achieved 50% or higher in subjects central to economic participation: 21.3% in mathematics, 27.1% in physical science, 28.8% in accounting, 29.6% in life sciences, 20.7% in economics and 28.4% in business studies. These figures help explain South Africa’s persistent shortage of engineers, scientists and skilled teachers, as well as our declining global competitiveness.
When we normalise 30% or 40% as acceptable outcomes, we signal to learners that mediocrity is sufficient. A society that aspires to excellence cannot afford such signals.
The primary beneficiaries of low thresholds are the department and political leaders, who can present inflated pass rates while South Africa ranks 107th out of 141 countries for future workforce skills.
Imagine, for a moment, a candid matric results announcement that acknowledges that fewer than a quarter of learners achieved 50% or more. Such honesty would force a long-overdue reckoning with performance, accountability and reform.
That reform is both necessary and achievable. Learners should be incentivised to pursue subjects that are critical to economic growth, with rewards for achieving strong results in mathematics, science, engineering, information technology, economics and accounting.
Parents should be empowered with greater choice through a school voucher system that enables access to better-performing schools. Teachers who excel should be rewarded, while those who struggle must be supported and upskilled. The public education system should actively attract skilled professionals from other sectors.
Revitalising struggling schools will also require capital investment. This is where partnerships with the private sector can play a constructive role.
As the matric results are released this year, South Africans should celebrate individual success stories. But we must resist the temptation to be comforted by headline figures alone. Instead, we should insist on an honest, evidence-based conversation about how to restore quality, dignity and ambition to our education system.
With an annual budget approaching R300bn, responsibility for more than 24,000 schools and the education of 13-million learners, the stakes could not be higher. Our children deserve far better than managed decline, and South Africa cannot afford another generation failed by low expectations.
• Maimane is an MP and leader of Bosa
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