EDUCATION STANDARDS
Matric pass rate results ‘superficial’
Key players in the education sector insist the rosy assessments are way off the mark
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga painted a rosy picture of a nation’s education system on the mend yesterday. She heaped praise on the quality of the system, and said the progression system was bearing fruit, as was her department’s emphasis on maths and science. Motshekga was upbeat about progress by rural and township schools, suggesting the gap between previously disadvantaged schools and so-called Model C schools is narrowing. Following a drop in the 2015 pass rate, the department said 2016’s results had to be seen in the context of a maturing and stabilising system, in which teachers, district officials and students were now more familiar with the curriculum assessment policy statements introduced three years ago. The South African Teachers Union on Thursday echoed Motshekga’s sentiment that the public system is still delivering excellent education. The progression policy was hailed as a mechanism that curbed high dropout rates. The class of 2016 had 108,742 progressed ...
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