Much has been said about the 2023 matric pass rate. Debates on all sides are raging about the state of South Africa’s basic education system and whether Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has fulfilled her mandate.    

In this debate, we must never lose focus on who we’re advocating for. We want pupils to have the best possible education so that they can have the best possible lives. We want them to be happy, successful and prosperous. We want them to be active participants in a growing economy.    

The question is whether this is feasible with the education they’ve received?  

It is important to note that when we question and dissect the basic education system, we in no way detract from the hard work and dedication of the pupils who have had to overcome immense challenges to make it as far as matric, never mind graduate, as well as the teachers who have gone the extra mile to prepare them. We are very proud of them all.    

But they are being let down – not by their own efforts, but by a basic education system that the vast majority have no opportunity to opt out of through homeschooling or independent schools.    

No matter their future plans, having less than 30% knowledge of a subject after three years (grades 10 to 12) is a travesty.

Let’s take a critical look at the prospects of what a typical matric pupil might expect after 12 years of basic education under Minister Motshekga.    

While 715,719 full-time pupils registered for the matric exams, only 691,160 wrote, of whom 572,983 passed; 24,559 dropped out between registering to write the NSC examination and writing it; 33.3% dropped out between their Grade 10 and matric years – 345,626 warm bodies from the 2023 cohort, to be exact. The real matric pass rate was only 55.3%.    

Only 40.9% of pupils passed with provisional entry into a bachelor’s degree, which means they had to obtain at least 40% for their home language, 50% for four other high-credit subjects and 30% for two other subjects.

The participation in mathematics was only 37.9% and 36.5% failed to achieve even 30% to pass, while 23.8% of pupils who wrote physical science failed to achieve at least 30%.    

The fact is that South African teachers fail to meet both international and regional standards and they have poor content knowledge of the subjects they are meant to teach.

No matter their future plans, having less than 30% knowledge of a subject after three years (grades 10 to 12) is a travesty.    

When 81% of Grade 4 and 56% of Grade 6 pupils cannot read for meaning; Grade 4 and 8 pupils struggle with basic maths and science; and almost 40% of Grade 10 pupils and more than 25% of Grade 8s in the Free State failed their exams last year, we cannot expect these pupils who do not have the fundamental basics of literacy and numeracy to possibly become economically emancipated. The high failure rate of the Free State Grade 8s and 10s also shows that the province’s matric results need to be scrutinised.   

With the bar of success set so low, it is hardly a wonder that many pupils never experience the benefits of higher education because they never make it that far.    

The pupils cannot carry the responsibility for these failures. We have to lay the blame with the Department of Basic Education. The fact is that South African teachers fail to meet both international and regional standards and they have poor content knowledge of the subjects they are meant to teach.

In 2017, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Benchmarking report placed South Africa 75th out of 76 countries in terms of quality of education. And various assessments and analyses seem to indicate that very little has changed in terms of quality education.  

The SACMEQ IV report revealed that only 64% of teachers had critical reading skills at Grade 6 level. Only 32.4% had concrete problem-solving skills when tested at that level and only 35.4% had abstract problem-solving skills. Only 758 teachers earned a minimum of 50 professional development points in 2023. The target was 25,000 – an underperformance of 97%.  

Read more in Daily Maverick: The matric exam is a mockery and should be scrapped – it has no place in modern education

Furthermore, 49% of South African teachers are older than 50 and set to retire within the next five to 15 years, which will lead to a teacher shortage, particularly in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, without a sustainable action plan from the Department of Basic Education.   

It is ultimately the mandate of the Department of Basic Education and Minister Motshekga to not only ensure that all pupils are in schools, but that the 12 years they spend in the country’s basic education system are not wasted by inadequacy and a seeming unwillingness to intervene.

Given these statistics, we have to consider whether the pupils who achieved bachelor’s passes at the lowest spectrum of this pass rate have been set up for success or failure in their further studies.  

The truth is that South African pupils are not only ill-prepared for the challenges of becoming economically independent once they leave school, they are also not prepared for the academic challenges of higher education.    

In 2021, the Post-School Education and Training Monitor Macro-Indicator Trends revealed that the average student-to-staff ratios at universities are increasing to 29 full-time students for every lecturer. This has a massive impact on the support to students and the quality of the learning and teaching they receive at tertiary institutions. Many university lecturers also lacked the required qualifications, with fewer than 50% of academic staff having PhD qualifications.    

Read more in Daily Maverick: The numbers don’t lie — the inherent mathematical flaws in SA’s education system

In 2019, only 22% of students were able to complete their three-year degree within three years. Furthermore, only 40.5% of TVET graduates were absorbed into the labour market in 2022. Were these students forced to join the 3.3 million (32.7%) young people aged 15 to 24 not in employment, education or training (NEET)? Or the six in 10 unemployed young people? Are they all destined for a life of poverty and unemployment? Rhetorically, no need for an answer when all is clear.   

Read more in Daily Maverick: Pirls findings point to a lame-duck minister of education and a generational catastrophe

Pupils cannot learn what their teachers are unable to teach them. And it is ultimately the mandate of the Department of Basic Education and Minister Motshekga to not only ensure that all pupils are in schools, but that the 12 years they spend in the country’s basic education system are not wasted by inadequacy and a seeming unwillingness to intervene.

It is time the minister not only focused on the number of pupils passing matric, but also on the quality of education they receive. Quantity without quality is nothing but fool’s gold. DM