A house is built from the foundation and not the roof. Without a foundation, a house will not stand firm and will ultimately collapse. Similarly, a quality education is built upon a strong foundation during the primary schooling phase, with matric representing the roof of basic education.

It is against this background that the annual gimmick of the announcement of the matric results in early January should be viewed. During this time, the minister of basic education will step up to the podium to announce the overall matric pass and celebrate those pupils who excelled in the examinations...