Real matric pass rate is 37.3% - DA

The real matric pass rate is 37.3%, the Democratic Alliance has said in a statement.

The party yesterday accused Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, of not addressing the ‘real’ pass rate. "How many Grade 10s from two years ago have passed matric and what about the unacceptably high figure of children who have dropped out of school?" Nomsa Marchesi, DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Basic Education, said in the statement issued today.

"Last year, 41% of the learners who enrolled in Grade 10 in 2015 did not enrol for matric. The ‘real’ pass rate – the number of Grade 10s from 2015 who passed matric in 2017 – was only 37.3%. This is cause for serious concern, rather than celebration," Marchesi stated.

She pointed out that South Africa was among the worst performers in terms of education internationally, having been placed last in Grade 8 Science and second-last place in Maths out of 39 countries for the Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015.

"More recently, we came out last in Grade 4 reading skills out of 50 countries for Progress in International Reading Literacy Studies (PIRLS) 2016. The study revealed that 78% of South African Grade 4 learners are illiterate."

The party called on Motshekga to address key problems including teacher quality and availability, pointing out that a total of 5 139 teachers are underqualified for their posts, infrastructure problems at schools and failure to deliver textbooks.

"Moreover, we must urgently address the issue of so many Grade 10s and 11s not making it through to a matric pass before leaving school. It is for this reason that the Minister should also announce the performance of provinces using her ‘Inclusive Basket of Criteria’, which focuses on both the quality of the passes achieved and the number of students remaining in the system successfully," Marchesi added.