A GREAT deal of energy is too often spent peddling figures whose veracity is unclear. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Global Competitiveness Report consistently ranks SA’s mathematics and science education quality among the worst in the world, sending the nation into a vortex of ill-informed activism on the state of the education system. The latest report ranks SA 144th out of 144 countries on the quality of maths and science education. Predictably, with the help of our media, we were left fuming for weeks, in spite of the questions that have risen continuously on the survey’s methodology.SA’s education system has been repeatedly criticised for its outcomes, even with one of the highest enrolment rates in Africa and high education expenditure. The National Planning Commission’s (NPC’s) Diagnostic Report found that "the quality of education for poor black South Africans is substandard". According to the diagnostic, despite a steady increase in literacy since 1994 and an increase i...
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