Increasing chance of passing matric

Progressed matric pupils will now have the option of choosing the number of subjects they want to write during their final examinations.

This is done to increase their chances of passing, according to the Basic Education Department's chief director for national assessment, Rufus Poolah. He said the department has introduced multiple exam writing to "allow learners to progress at their own pace".

The progression policy dictates that pupils who do not meet the requirements for promotion can be progressed to the next grade to prevent them from being retained in the phase for longer than four years.

"The assumption is that if you're progressed you certainly could not meet the requirements in your earlier grades, so why subject you to this high requirement of having to write all six subjects in one sitting and possibly fail five of the six and get further demoralised.

"So, learners who are in Grade 12 but progressed can choose to either write four or five subjects, but we're also saying if a progressed learner has the capability and has performed well then there's no reason why that learner must be held back."

Poolah, however, said the decision for a pupil to write multiple exams could only be taken after they had written the preliminary examinations.

On the basis of performance, a decision is taken by the pupil or school on how many subjects the pupil can write in November and then write the other subjects in June the following year.

"So, we're also giving them six months to prepare for those two or three subjects that they would have not written in that [final] exam."

For a pupil to qualify for a multiple exam, one of the conditions is that they have failed a minimum of three subjects during the preliminary examinations.

Pupils will be given their results after writing the exams in November and June, and then the results of the two exams combined. A pupil will get a certificate early the following year.

Poolah said the policy for multi-grade examinations would be promulgated in the next week or two.

Announcing the 2015 matric results early this year, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the national pass rate would have been higher without progressed pupils. There were 65671 progressed pupils last year, the largest group since the policy was promulgated in 2013.

"Progression is an interim measure to assist learners instead of allowing learners to remain in the system. Then they become frustrated, demoralised and drop out and become delinquent. You would rather allow them to progress," Poolah said.

The department is strengthening criteria and setting preconditions to progress pupils to Grade 12 after complaints from teachers that pupils moved to matric do not cope.