Education experts predict that the 2020 matric pass rate for state schools could be as much as 5% lower than the 81.3% recorded in 2019.
This comes in the wake of Friday’s announcement by the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) that the pass rate for private schools dropped slightly, from 98.82% in 2019 to 98.07%.
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Basic education minister Angie Motshekga will announce the matric results on Tuesday after exams quality assurer Umalusi this week gave the green light for their release.
Academics have also called for universities to offer last year’s matric pupils extra tuition and catch-up programmes because they may have learning deficits as a result of last year’s disruptions to schooling caused by Covid-19.
Professor Servaas van der Berg of Stellenbosch University said he expected a decline in the pass rate “simply because matriculants did not have the usual preparations for writing the final examinations as in past years”.
“My expectation is that the pass rate will decline but I would be surprised if there is a decline of more than 5%.”
Schäfer said that universities’ support structures and offerings this year would have “to be beefed up significantly to deal with the gaps that first-year students come with”.
“This will include curriculum and content catch-up courses and seminars for specific content areas, general counselling services and constant liaising with feeder schools and institutions.”
He did not believe that the curriculum should be trimmed, but said there was a need for a curriculum revision and modification.
Marc Schäfer, a professor of mathematics education at Rhodes University, said it would be naïve to think the disruptions would not have impacted negatively on the pass rate.
“So, unless the raw scores are significantly manipulated, I expect the pass rate to be lower than in past years.”
Professor Sylvan Blignaut of the faculty of education at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth said the greatest challenge for matrics when they entered university was getting to grips with the technically difficult subjects such as maths and physical science.
“It would not be surprising if some university students have a weaker grasp of these subjects than may have been the case in the past.”
But he did not believe that universities should trim their curricula, saying this would have many knock-on effects for subsequent courses.
“For instance, engineering students that have a reduced maths curriculum in the first year of study may then struggle with some other subjects in their second year.”
Blignaut and Schäfer agreed that the 2020 matrics would be compromised “in dealing with academic requirements and expectations of universities”.
Blignaut said: “There are possibilities for more academic support for struggling students. Extended time, additional support programmes and additional learning opportunities may be provided to students.”
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