LIKE CLOCKWORK THE PROPHETS OF DOOM WILL COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK
ELIJAH MHLANGA
CHIEF DIRECTOR FOR COMMUNICATIONS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION
Every year without fail and just like clockwork, some people jostle for the title of newsmaker by attacking the Department of Basic Education. Many of them with little or sadly, no factual information to bolster their usually baseless arguments.
At this time each year, out of the woodwork pops out pseudo education experts who, despite the availability of free information and data, choose rather to cast aspersions on the schooling system in an attempt to grab headlines and enjoy airtime on radio and television. You suddenly have them hop from one media outlet to another, regurgitating the same old doom and gloom that they fabricate unaided. What seems even more baffling is the media’s keenness to give the “experts” airtime, without probing their motives.
Their favourite topic has got to do with the minimum pass requirements.
The truth is that the much-talked about threshold of 30% and 40%, has been explained on numerous occasions to everybody. If by any chance you have been living under a rock or somewhere else where such information is unavailable, It is a minimum level of achievement and it is by no means the targeted level of achievement.
We have also been at great pains to explain that no learner will attain a certificate, if he or she achieves a 30% in all seven subjects taken at the Grade 12 level. This minimum level of achievement is to prevent learners who, for one reason or the other, may not be able to perform at the required level in one subject, from being held back simply because of that one subject.
The schooling system, contrary to popular opinion, promotes excellence at every level, and we are continuously monitoring the percentage of learners that attain distinctions and those that attain admission to bachelor studies. These, of course are the higher levels of achievement in the system. Education is about taking the entire population of learners from where they are to the next level.
The fact is that the National Senior Certificate (NSC), commonly referred to as matric, has enjoyed societal acceptance as the premier schooling qualification and has provided on an annual basis to hundreds of candidates, potential access to tertiary and the world of work. The NSC not only enjoys local recognition but is recognized internationally and scores of our learners are studying at international institutions, having used the South African Matric, as the admission qualification.
Each year learners that enter Higher Education Institutions, successfully complete their qualifications and enter the economy.
The engineers, the medical scientists, the surgeons, the chief executive officers of the large conglomerates, and others, are all products of the South African schooling system.
This certainly, cannot be the product of a “matric certificate that is not worth the paper it is printed on.” However, education systems world-wide, rarely remain static.
The rapidly evolving work environment with radically changing industry requirements, warrants continuous changes. As far back as 2018 the Department embarked on a programme that has necessitated a change in emphasis in education outcomes and differentiated education access. To this end the Department is currently piloting the introduction of a three-stream model with expanded opportunities for learners to pursue vocational and occupational tracks.
This will ensure improved alignment between the schooling sector and the world of work and will result in better preparing our learners for the skills required by the workplace. The introduction of new subjects such as Marine Sciences, Coding and Robotics, Technical Science, Technical Mathematics and the various Technology subjects, will have a positive influence on keeping the NSC relevant to industry requirements.
The Department continues to work closely with industry to identify areas of need and to ensure that new subjects are introduced as the demands of respective industries change. Entrepreneurship is a major thrust of the Economic and Management Sciences, a component of subjects taken at the primary school level and pursued further at the secondary school level in subjects like Economics, Business Studies and Accounting. The Department is working on a Curriculum Blueprint that will shift focus towards innovative and progressive pedagogies and usher in competency based learning, more critical thinking, deeper learning and assessment for learning.
As part of the Curriculum innovation agenda, the Department will also usher in a new qualification in the form of a General Education Certificate designed to recognise a more holistic dashboard of learner capabilities and to support learner inclinations that is more fit for purpose towards career pathing and self-knowledge linked to expanded educational tracks. The Department is fully aware of the challenges that confront the education system, which include, inter alia, the low reading comprehension levels of our primary school learners and the knowledge levels of some of our teachers.
These are matters that are being decisively addressed through the various reading programmes that are currently instituted and are making a difference. There are also intensive teacher development programmes, which are being implemented in conjunction with the Labour Unions and other key partners.
Educational changes are slow and gradual and these changes are producing green shoots, as evidenced by various credible studies. In addition, we continue to work together with strategic stakeholders both locally and globally to improve and enhance our efforts. Constructive engagement on the education system point to a nation that is interested in what children get taught in the classroom. As a department we thrive on collaborative efforts from across the board. Unfortunately, instead of robust debates we experience grandstanding by leaders of society on something as important as education.
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