South Africa off the presses. Johannesburg 23 Matric results 19 January 2024. Stressed out matriculants from the class of 2023 and their friend and family in Eldorado park targets the first copies of the newspapers as it hits the streets hot off the presses. An event was arranged to create a safe enviroment for the kids at night. The class of 2023 obtained a 82% pass . Picture: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers.
Angie Motshekga is not a credible Minister of Education. Rather, she is a subservient spin doctor of a corrupt regime who manipulates statistics to reflect false notions of “progress”.
Thousands of teachers and pupils who struggle in the schools of the poor know the lies she attempts to validate in her annual roadshow on education.
Those of us who work, and have worked in education in the vast majority of townships, know what school leaders do to “improve” matric results.
To spare themselves the humiliation of “dysfunctionality”. Subjects like maths, accounting, life science, business studies and geography are simply taken out of the curriculum and replaced by others that do not equip young people for careers and tertiary education.
All one has to do is to examine the DBE’s report on the 2023 matric exams to see at which schools these ineffectual curricula are being taught, out of necessity, to deliver good results.
The current pupil-teacher ratio does not provide (never has) an adequate number of teachers in township schools.
This ratio does not affect Model C schools because there the SGBs simply employ extra teachers, using funds from their loaded trust accounts.
This inadequate formula seriously inhibits teachers from delivering the curriculum effectively. Classrooms in township primary schools, especially, are bursting at the seams.
It comes as no surprise that pupils emerging from these overcrowded primary institutions are ill-prepared to encounter academic demands at high schools.
The reduced pass rate which the current educational regime has institutionalised has no sound educational basis. It is an unforgivable political compromise to allow pupils to slip through the system to avoid a bottleneck at schools each year. One need not be a rocket scientist to figure that out.
Despite Motshekga’s lauding of her 2.8% improvement in the matric results, she is only fooling herself.
No other intelligent person is impressed. (It took 30+ years to deliver that spectacular improvement.) President Ramaphosa’s congratulatory speech never sounded more hollow.
The 40% of pupils who did not reach matric is much more than just a mere statistic, Minister Motshekga. It is a tragic number that compounds the misery of the thousands your regime has failed.
The pathetic attempts of these ANC-appointed ministers, like Motshekga, to dupe South Africans into believing their myths about transformation are simply a gross insult to South Africans.
* Abu Bakr Solomons, Plumstead.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
Do you have something on your mind; or want to comment on the big stories of the day? We would love to hear from you. Please send your letters to arglet@inl.co.za.
All letters to be considered for publication, must contain full names, addresses and contact details (not for publication)