Parties and experts agree that education reform should tackle 30% minimum mark.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube will form an advisory council that will advise her on policy reforms, including whether the 30% pass mark should be revisited.
Gwarube made her intention known in a written reply to a parliamentary question from Build One South Africa (BOSA) MP Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, who asked whether she intended ending the 30% pass mark and replacing it with 50% as a minimum pass.
The minister said she was aware that the 30% pass mark had been raised as a concern by various quarters.
“Presently, there are no immediate plans to change the 30% pass mark and to replace it with a minimum pass mark of 50%,” she said.
However, Gwarube said that since she assumed office in June, she had devoted her time to fully understanding the challenges confronting the basic education sector and planned “to appoint an advisory council to inform the necessary reforms in the sector.
“This council will be able to look at how best we strengthen the curriculum; what interventions are needed and how best to benchmark our performance with international best practice,” she said.
“We remain committed to making evidence-based policy interventions at all times” and “would require time and expert advice before any changes of this nature can be made”.
Hlazo-Webster said there was need to set a higher standard for children and scrap the 30% pass mark.
“A 50% pass mark should be the bare minimum and anything less, which is what we have, prepares our youth for a life of unemployment and wasted potential,” she said.
Hlazo-Webster also said Gwarube’s own party, the DA, had long opposed the 30% pass mark.
“It is time to make the 50% standard a much-needed reform and reality. Let us not only wish our matrics success but work to create a system where their success is guaranteed.”
IFP MP Busaphi Machi said it was imperative that the bar was raised by setting the pass mark at 50% and to incorporate more practical future-ready content such as financial and entrepreneurial training.
“The IFP remains steadfast in advocating for the profession to be well resourced and an inclusive education system that leaves no child behind,” Machi said.
KwaZulu-Natal education experts agreed that the pass mark should increase.
UKZN School of Education Professor Labby Ramrathan said South Africa must have an educated society, not a certificated society.
Ramrathan said the 50% pass mark should be implemented from Grade 10, especially in key subjects, but he supported a progression pass rate of 40% in other subjects.
He said the current pass mark was too low and when pupils reached university they could not cope with the workload or independent study.
“I think it sends a negative signal that you can just do minimal work and be able to go over the threshold; that is not acceptable. There’s a big gap between school education and higher education,” he said.
Ramrathan called for a national critical conversation around education in South Africa with fresh voices, not just those who were used to being part of these discourses.
“We haven’t had a countrywide discussion on what is the purpose of school in South Africa and how that leads to what happens in terms of the curriculum offered in schools. Right now we have a siloed curriculum and each subject is taught and learned and examined and assessed on its own. But we’re living in a trans-disciplinary environment. How do we cross the boundaries of the deeply entrenched silos? That’s a conversation we need," said Ramrathan.
Dr Ndumiso Ngidi, a senior lecturer in the same department, said South Africa was an exception because it was the only country in the world where the pass mark was less than 50%.
He said before the pass rate was increased, South Africa’s education system must be strengthened.
Ngidi said pupils could not be expected to do well when schools were riddled with crime and violence, under-resourced and where the infrastructure was not up to standard.
“For us to get to that desired pass mark of 50% in each subject, the government, communities and school communities need to be all hands on deck. Quality schools are resourced, infrastructure is properly maintained and refurbished, books, the internet and wi-fi are available, and many other things that make up holistic education, including sports and recreational facilities.
“We can’t expect pupils to get really good marks when they are attending schools that are not up to standard,” he said.
“But the interventions really should start early in the pre-primary education, the early childhood development phase. You can see this throughout life: children who started early tend to do a little bit better than those who just went straight to grade one,” he said.