WE WILL not celebrate a pyrrhic victory.
The Department of Basic Education says Sowetan is irresponsible for calculating a different percentage pass for matrics. Our figures show that the percentage of pupils who passed is lower than the official one. We base our arithmetic on the numbers provided by the department. We were trying to find clarity in a forest of wayward numbers.
Department spokesperson Granville Whittle says they only report on full-time pupils' results. That means part-timers who are included in the overall registration numbers are excluded from the final results.
We do not agree with this methodology. It is wrong because it hides more than it reveals. We need to know the full picture.
The people who were left out are brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. They have lives and they enrolled to better their lives. They invested a whole year in their studies. In the department's self-serving methodology, their efforts are conveniently left out to present a rosy, spurious success.
How many of them managed to pass? How many of them failed? How will we be able to gauge our development? Until we get those figures, we maintain that the national pass rate is 57percent.
Why did the department release a slew of numbers that include part-time candidates if it did not want the country to think that there were more registered candidates than the previous year? The national standard has been compromised with the subject pass mark at 30percent. The matric certificate has been seriously degraded.
We also need to think about those who were left out of the school system. The class of 1999 had 1318932 pupils. What has happened to our children? While the minister shines about a handful of successful pupils, nothing is said about the bigger number who have disappeared. We will rue the future if we do not question all these anomalies.
We are the bottom feeders in the world in numeracy and literacy. Our education system is rotten and Sowetan refuses to hide the rot. The system must be opened to scrutiny for the general public to come up with ideas to fight for our survival.
We are not going to sugar-coat the disaster that is our education system. Matrics are hardly literate and cannot count. The university dropout rate is frightening in a developing country with limited resources. The department must stop fiddling while our country goes down the slope. Minister, have the courage to act before it is too late.
Celebrating a pyrrhic victory
WE WILL not celebrate a pyrrhic victory.
The Department of Basic Education says Sowetan is irresponsible for calculating a different percentage pass for matrics. Our figures show that the percentage of pupils who passed is lower than the official one. We base our arithmetic on the numbers provided by the department. We were trying to find clarity in a forest of wayward numbers.
Department spokesperson Granville Whittle says they only report on full-time pupils' results. That means part-timers who are included in the overall registration numbers are excluded from the final results.
We do not agree with this methodology. It is wrong because it hides more than it reveals. We need to know the full picture.
The people who were left out are brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. They have lives and they enrolled to better their lives. They invested a whole year in their studies. In the department's self-serving methodology, their efforts are conveniently left out to present a rosy, spurious success.
How many of them managed to pass? How many of them failed? How will we be able to gauge our development? Until we get those figures, we maintain that the national pass rate is 57percent.
Why did the department release a slew of numbers that include part-time candidates if it did not want the country to think that there were more registered candidates than the previous year? The national standard has been compromised with the subject pass mark at 30percent. The matric certificate has been seriously degraded.
We also need to think about those who were left out of the school system. The class of 1999 had 1318932 pupils. What has happened to our children? While the minister shines about a handful of successful pupils, nothing is said about the bigger number who have disappeared. We will rue the future if we do not question all these anomalies.
We are the bottom feeders in the world in numeracy and literacy. Our education system is rotten and Sowetan refuses to hide the rot. The system must be opened to scrutiny for the general public to come up with ideas to fight for our survival.
We are not going to sugar-coat the disaster that is our education system. Matrics are hardly literate and cannot count. The university dropout rate is frightening in a developing country with limited resources. The department must stop fiddling while our country goes down the slope. Minister, have the courage to act before it is too late.
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