At the official announcement of this year’s matric results, which has become an annual ritual, basic education minister Angie Motshekga commended the class of 2022 for achieving a pass rate of 80.1%, an improvement over 2021 and 2020, at 76.4% and 76.2% respectively.
Many will join her in celebrating the results, for they represent an output for the country’s huge investment in pre-tertiary education, a better one at that. This is especially so because last year’s matriculants would have spent the past three years battling enormous odds, including load-shedding and Covid.
Yet there remain questions about a system in which young people spend the better part of their lives ostensibly being prepared to become appropriately skilled and productive members of society. For one, by using the matric pass rate to measure the performance of the education system, are we judging it on quantity instead of quality?
The big question is whether the matric certificate represents a gateway to bigger and better things, either in tertiary education or job opportunities, or a dead end in which one is neither in employment nor further education.
It is axiomatic that for the economy to absorb new work seekers, it will have to grow much faster than the tepid levels it has achieved in recent years
Unfortunately, the latter prospect awaits the vast majority of those who have just passed matric and are hoping to find a job. Given the already high unemployment, even among youth with qualifications, this hope is forlorn.
It is axiomatic that for the economy to absorb new work seekers, it will have to grow much faster than the tepid levels it has achieved in recent years. And that prospect remains dim because of worsening load-shedding, for which the government seems to have few answers.
This is quite apart from the fact that, in a culture where going to university remains more popular than acquiring a technical education, many universities are already oversubscribed, with the vacancies far outnumbered by applications.
Other factors that cast public doubt on our education system include a pass mark in some subjects set as low as 30% or 40%. Also, the policy of “progressing” pupils — moving them up to the next grade even if they have failed. Whatever the government’s rationale, it must satisfactorily address the perception of a lowering of standards if confidence in the system is to be maintained.
In addition, there is a perception, not unfounded, that private education is superior to its public counterpart. It is true that, being better resourced, private schools do tend to deliver better outcomes than state schools overall.
Yet we need to be careful to not throw the baby out with the bath water. There is evidence of state schools that match private schools in performance. While good state schools are in a minority, the focus must be on increasing these islands of excellence so that the opportunity to get a good education is extended to all our children, not just those whose parents are affluent.
We must as a nation eliminate what is now a differentiated, and unequal, school system and replace it with one that provides a quality, non-discriminatory system that produces young people with skills to contribute to the economy and society.
In the final analysis, in order for the matric certificate to not represent an employment cul de sac for the thousands who matriculate every year, we have to redouble our efforts to grow the economy — so that it can take in young people who leave the education system with high hopes only for them to be dashed by the reality of rampant unemployment and poverty.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.