The high university drop-out rate and youth unemployment rate in South Africa necessitate a shift of focus away from an apparently good matric pass rate to looking at whether learners are adequately prepared for the workplace and tertiary studies.
The drop-out rate of students studying at universities is nearly 40% and only 22% succeed in completing a three-year degree in three years. Youth unemployment is a national crisis as 58% of the youth are unemployed.
It is worrying that nearly 140 000 matric learners did not obtain matric exemption and only barely passed. It is, however, positive that the number of learners with matric exemption did increase with 8% since last year.
Only 42% (409 906) of all learners who started Grade 1 in 2008 passed matric in 2019. That means that 566 060 learners did not pass Grade 12.
The ANC government is using the matric pass rate as a smokescreen for their shortcomings and the reality of the high drop-out rate. The measure of good quality education should not be an artificial pass rate, but should take the quality and throughput rate of learners at schools into account as well.
The Minister of Basic Education. Ms Angie Motshega, has undertaken in the past to use other measures in the future and to provide broader statistics regarding the results. The measure for the success of the educational system should be the employability and readiness for tertiary studies of learners leaving school and not the number of learners who managed to achieve the minimum requirements.
The high youth unemployment rate and the high drop-out rate among school learners and university students prove that the educational system is failing learners by not adequately preparing them for the workplace or to continue their studies.
The fact that school-leavers fail to develop critical thinking skills and abilities at school means that it is nearly impossible for them to enter the labour market without further qualifications and this is because there is too much emphasis on merely preparing learners to obtain a matric certificate.
The FF Plus wants to congratulate the learners and dedicated teachers who perform well despite difficult circumstances and numerous challenges and who have made a positive difference in the educational system.
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