I find the 20% maths pass mark proposal very worrying. Yes, there are children who struggle with maths, but we should be looking for ways to support them and aim higher to inspire excellence rather than lowering the bar so that everybody can step over. This may have the effect of making children aim even lower; 20% is definitely below failure by any definition and grade 7 is way too early to make children aim that low. I see this policy as Bantu education under a different name. A child who is promoted at 20% will by default be excluded from mathematics in grade 10. This means most of these children will be excluded from major courses, including most commerce and business courses at tertiary level. They will not fit in the few remaining good courses that don’t require mathematics. Though they may study further, they will most likely become unemployable. Many of these children, as well as a number of parents, don’t understand the career implications of that decision. As somebody who ...
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