[imagesource: Tookapic]

In January this year, as it goes every year, politicians proudly announced the matric pass rate, which for the class of 2019 was 81,3%.

While this sounds great in theory, the increase in successful matriculants has a lot to do with certain changes that have been made to the examination process, pass marks, and achievable outcomes over the years.

For example, in 2005, it was necessary to achieve 50% or more in four subjects chosen from the 20-credit NSC subject list to achieve a bachelor’s pass or ‘matric exemption’. Back then, if you needed to write a supplementary exam, you were limited to two, whereas now you can rewrite as many exams as you need.

It’s also now possible to obtain not one, but one of three different certificates after writing the National Senior Certificate exams with different pass criteria for each.

Here’s what things look like now:

• If you want to walk away with a Higher Certificate pass you need to obtain 40% in your home language and two additional subjects, and 30% in three others.
• A Diploma Pass you need 40% in four Higher Credit subjects including your home language, and 30% in two other subjects.
• Finally, if you intend on going to university, you’ll need a Bachelors Degree pass which means 40% in your home language, 50% for four other High Credit subjects, and 30% for a further two subjects.

While across the board, universities and other tertiary education institutions are noticing a severe decline in the preparedness of students, one subject, in particular, stands out – not only when it comes to high school enrollment, but reflected in the matric results year-on-year.

According to MyBroadband:

Last year’s figures show that out of the 787,717 students who wrote matric examinations, only 222,034 (28%) wrote mathematics.

Of those who wrote, 45% did not achieve a passing grade of above 30%.

Matric exams are set to start on November 5 this year and will run until December 15, with upwards of a million candidates registered to write.

The number of students registered to write mathematics exams is rapidly declining, which could affect their ability to enter certain programs, like science, engineering, medicine, and even psychology, at tertiary institutions.

The ability to pursue certain programs also depends on the type of maths studied in matric.

Whereas in the past your options were maths higher or lower grade, today there are three options:

• The standard Mathematics curriculum which would allow you to study subjects with a mathematics requirement at a university.
• Mathematics Literacy which is easier than standard maths and is more geared towards everyday maths. You could study at a university but would be excluded from subjects like engineering, IT, accounting, chemistry, medicine, and more.
• Technical Mathematics prepares learners to study at a technical college to enter fields like plumbing.

We covered a Grade 12 Maths Lit paper a while back. It was quite a sight to behold.

Fewer students are registering for standard mathematics, while Mathematics Literacy enrolments increased from 349 338 in 2019 to 358 883 in 2020.

The standard pass mark for maths is 30%, which University of Cape Town professor Suellen Shay points out is enough to allow a student to enter a university, but far from adequate to prepare students to succeed at a university level.

Despite all of this, come next year, politicians will inevitably, once again, proudly announce the matric pass rate.

At the end of the day, it’s the students who suffer.

[source:mybroadband]