Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 03-07-2017

Learners in grade 11 and 12 may need very little to get promoted after the Basic Education announced it is considering lowering the requirement to pass the school year. 

My Broadbrand quotes an article from the Rapport newspapers which states that there is a plan to lower the pass marks for various subjects, including home languages.

The article states the current requirement for learners to pass mathematics to pass the year will also be scrapped.

Hubert Mweli, Director-General for Basic Education, made the following suggestions on the pass requirement:

• The pass mark for a home language should drop from 50% to 40%.

• The pass mark for mathematics will drop from 40% to 30%.

• Learners will only have to get 30% in two other subjects, other than mathematics.

• The pass mark for all other subjects will be 40%.

• The requirement to pass mathematics to pass the year will be removed.

• The rule that a learner may not fail a certain phase – which consists of three grades – more than once has also been applied since 2014.

Former University of the Free State vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen criticized the lowering of standards in SA saying matric exams are rigged to make the weakest pupils pass, not to make the brightest pupils excel.

“The exams are designed to compensate for the dysfunction in most of our schools, because the politicians are too scared to confront those who hold hostage the potential of all our pupils.”

In November 2013, former Naspers CEO Koos Bekker warned that South Africa’s poor education system was hurting Internet developments and investments in the country – due to a lack of engineers.

– My BroadBand

Twitter: @FaizelPatel143