Durban - THE Department of Basic Education is looking at all possibilities of dealing with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on education, and getting all grades back to school, but implementing the “pass one, pass all” system is not one of them.
The department responded after the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) called for the focus to be placed on Grades 7 and 12, and the remaining grades to be pushed to the next grades, using the pass one, pass all system.
Cosas proposed the department should test all Grade 7 and Grade 12 pupils for Covid-19, take those positive into quarantine and send the remaining pupils from those grades to campsites to complete the year.
Spokesperson Bantu Joseph said teachers were dying, and more pupils had tested positive for Covid-19.
“Schools should be shut down. There is enough evidence that schools are not ready to receive the rest of the grades,” he said.
But department spokesperson Ejijah Mhlanga rejected the proposal.
He said it was not practical to pass someone who had not been to school.
“We understand that there is a lot of anxiety.
“The department is focusing on getting the rest of the grades back to school safely,” said Mhlanga.
KZN department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said “pass one, pass all” would create problems when pupils get to university, and other endeavours in life.
“We have a responsibility to educate beyond the curriculum To mould future pupils who are productive and will be effective citizens of this country,” Mahlambi said.
He added that the weight of the matric qualification was internationally benchmarked.
“We cannot afford to compromise the class of 2020,” he said.
National School Governing Bodies Association chairperson Matakanye Matakanye rejected the Cosas proposal as “not practical”.
“It would be unfair to say some grades should be passed while sitting at home, and others must go back to school,” he said.
Matakanye said it was premature to call for pupils to be passed, when not all pupils had returned to school.
“Cosas should have waited for all grades to return, and assess the situation first. We don’t know what is going to happen when the department reopens all schools. We should give the department’s phased-in approach of reopening schools time,” he said.
KZN Parents’ Association chairperson Vee Gani also rejected Cosas’s proposal, saying this would hurt pupils.
“Right now we have a low 30% and 40% pass rate in some critical subjects. Pupils have only been at school practically for two months. It would not make sense to progress them to the next grade, based on the work of two months.
“This would hurt pupils in the poorest schools more.
“There are pupils who would have failed the year under normal circumstances anyway,” he said.
Wentworth School Governing Body Forum chairperson Clint Leverton agreed with Cosas, saying infections had increased since schools reopened.