FS Matric results once again fail to show true reflection of state of basic education in province

The DA in the Free State would like to congratulate all 2016 matriculants who obtained the National Senior Certificates (NSC). We would like to wish you well for the future. A special note of thanks should also be extended to all the dedicated parents, teachers, school principals, and departmental officials in province for their commitment, dedication and hard work towards educating our youth in preparation for adult life.

The official Free State matric pass rate of 93.2% may tempt us into believing that all is well with the state of basic education in the province, when it is not.

While we celebrate with those who passed their NSC exams, we also have a duty to acknowledge and recognise that the basic education system continues to fail more than half a generation each year.

The true matric pass rate of the province can only be calculated by considering the number of learners who drop out of the school system between grades 10 to 12.

There were 55 293 learners enrolled for grade 10 in 2014, while at the start of the 2016 school year, only 29 077 learners were enrolled for matric and only 26 786 learners actually sat to write NSC examinations. This means that more than half of possible matric learners, 28 507 individuals to be exact, dropped out of the basic school system relegating half a generation to a life of unemployment and further entrenching a cycle of poverty and misery.

Should we calculate the true matric pass rate considering this mass exodus from our basic education system, the pass rate would come in at just over 42%.

The DA has long maintained that for far too long, a quantitative approach to measuring the basic education system’s performance have blinded us to serious problems with regards to basic education.

It is all well and good to shout loud a high percentage number of passes without being completely honest to the true extent of the school system’s failures. Without honestly acknowledging the true extent of these problems, the Free State, as for the rest of South Africa bar the Western Cape, will not make headway in the fight against unemployment and poverty. And the dream of building a united and prosperous knowledge-based economy will remain just that, a dream.

That said, the DA is encouraged by both the quantitative and the qualitative approach to basic education by our government in the Western Cape, where the Department of Education, under the leadership of Minister Debbie Schäfer, continues to improve on the quality of education. Western Cape learners again recorded the highest percentage of bachelors passes at 40.9% as well as showing continued improvement on all key indicators, specifically in mathematics with a pass rate of 77.2%.

Statement issued by Mariette Pittaway, DA MPL Free State, 5 January 2016