EFF STATEMENT ON THE 2019 FINAL MATRIC RESULTS
Wednesday, 08 January 2020
The EFF congratulates all the learners who sat for the 2019 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams. We wish to congratulate in particular learners who passed against the odds of poverty, suffering and at times going to class with an empty stomach. We also wish to congratulate hundreds of learners who went to under resourced, neglected and dilapidated schools, the orphans and children of domestic workers, petrol attendance, security guards, taxi, truck and bus drivers, farm and mine workers, unemployed parents and the entire working class, for whom education is the only hope to end the cycle of poverty.
We pay special attention to the fact that female students were better performing than males.
For an example, 63.8% of the 156,884 distinctions were attained by female candidates, while their male counterparts attained 36.2% distinctions.
We also congratulate those who did not pass, because in essence they made it this far, sat for an exam and faced the odds. We wish them strength, resilience and endurance that they may continue to pursue education and knowledge despite this single setback. Majority of the learners who faced difficulties through their schooling years are learners who have been failed by the system. This is unlike learners who received quality education at the foundation phase and therefore are able to think critically, analyse and process information and are also able to read, write and do basic arithmetic. Many of the learners who failed their matric never received education properly from their early childhood development phase and the first years of their schooling.
A total number of 787 717 leamers sat for the NSC examination, 616 754 as full-time and 170 963 as part-time learners. In 2008, 1 090 254 learners enrolled for grade 1 in public schools, who would have sat for NSC exams in 2019. A total of 302 537 learners who would have sat for the NSC exams did not write. A total of 640 414 or 80% of the learners who sat for the exams passed.
We also note the increase in 0% pass rate of 16 schools, an increase from 12 of 2019. This is attributed to the learners being few and being allocated fewer teachers. We reject the system being utilised by the department to allocate few teachers to such schools as the logic doesn't sufficiently accommodate the needs of students.
The continued focus and prioritisation of matric rates that has gradually improved over the last few years due to the maturing of the curriculum, delivery of learners and teachers support material, some improvements on infrastructure has failed to account for learners who have either dropped out, failed previous grades or are in TVET colleges. The fact that the reported and celebrated pass rate of 81 ,3% does not take into account 302 537 learners who started grade 1 in 2008 and were supposed to have written matric in 2019 is misleading.
If we take the total number of all learners who started grade 1 in 2008, it means the actual pass rate is 59% instead of the misleading 80%.
There are no incentives for schools to prioritise learner retention and lower drop outs.
Instead, the main focus is on matric results and schools deliberately hold learners who could have sat for matric but receive average marks. The unwarranted focus on exam taking and repetition of tests throughout the year deprives learners of meaningful learning. As a result, many of learners that pass and go on to institutions of higher learning, struggle with transition and end up dropping out to join the already huge numbers of drop outs. There is no effort to track learners who go to TVET's or join the work force. This inability of the government is a deliberate and consistent child neglect scandal of all times.
This is all the while majority of black learners in South Africa go to school with empty stomachs, without decent school uniform or shoes, and go to schools without basic infrastructure. In some instances, learners do not have textbooks and have too either share or do completely without them. The children of rich however, in particular white, and politicians, are sent to private and semi-private schools, including schools overseas, with state-of-the-art libraries and computer labs, sports facilities and sanitation with low teacher to learner ratio.
In light of all this, we reiterate our call for the abolishment of the dual education system in the form of NSC and Independent Examination Board (IEB) in favour of the creation of single examination for all learners in grade 12. Access to education must be based on academic talent and not how deep one's pocket is.
Majority of black learners from poor communities are condemned to poor wages, humiliation and joblessness because of poor education. Free quality decolonised education is the key to addressing marginalisation and exclusion of black people from participating in the economy. Education continues to be used as a tool to perpetuate racialised economic inequality. The governing party has no political will, capacity or sophistication to turnaround South Africa's education system to uplift millions of our people from poverty to be active and contributing members of society.
In addition, we lament the lack of university spaces that continuously haunts our higher education system in general. The goveming party and the 26 universities failed to demonstrate how they intend to increase available spaces at institutions of higher learning for 2020. The Ministerial Statement on University Enrolment Planning for 2020 and 2025 is nothing but a gimmick exercise as there is no massive infrastructure to expend either the physical or technological infrastructure and capacity at the moment.
Lastly, we call on all learners who have passed, qualify to enrol at institutions of higher education and do not have money or did not apply because they did not have money, to report to institutions of higher learning, with their result and further their education.
Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, 8 January 2019
