Education lobby group Equal Education (EE) has criticised the country’s "preoccupation" with matric results‚ saying the focus should rather be put on primary school. Describing Wednesday’s official release of the results by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga as an "annual shindig"‚ the organisation said the pass rate was a "superficial and misleading indicator of public education quality". Instead‚ the focus should be on Grade R to Grade 3 pupils‚ who are between five-and nine-years-old‚ rather than trying to fix results when pupils are 17 or 18 and in matric. "Early learning is currently crippled by difficulties‚ including overcrowded classrooms and lack of support for early childhood development and foundation phase [Grade R to Grade 3] teachers. Shockingly‚ there is persistent over-investment in Grade 12‚ when the largest investment is needed in the early school stages. "EE has repeatedly cautioned against the national preoccupation with the matric pass rate. For one‚ the p...
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