Pass rate requirements outrage

EDUCATION roleplayers are up in arms about the Department of Basic Education's changes to the pass requirements for grades 7, 8 and 9.

They say the moveis little more than a ploy to give the illusion of an improvement in the quality of education.

The department said it would use different criteria to determine whether pupils pass or fail.

It has raised the required pass mark for languages by 10 percentage points, will no longer allow pupils to be condoned and will allow pupils to fail only one subject instead of two to progress to the next grade.

The changes include increasing the pass percentage in home languages from 40% to 50% and from 30% to 40% in a first additional language. The changes, set to come into effect this year, were met with mixed reaction, with principals and other educationists concerned at the perceived negative impact it would have on schools' pass rates.

However, in an attempt to buffer the blow to schools' pass rates, the department has asked principals to give pupils who do not make the grade the necessary marks to pass. This is to ensure the schools' targeted pass rate is not tampered with.

A recent survey of top schools in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg showed that about 40% would not make the grade with the increased pass marks. The schools would not be named.

Alexander Road High School deputy principal Dale McGregor, a clinical psychologist, said included in the changes was that Grade 9 pupils who failed maths would have to repeat the whole year.

The survey showed that 187 pupils from five "highly functioning" Bay schools – which normally had a pass rate of between 91% and 100% – failed maths in June.

"Before, you could fail maths [in Grade 9] and get a condonation, but now the department is saying that if you get less than 40% in maths you must repeat the whole year. That is silly because not everyone is good at maths and to be judged solely on that is unfair," McGregor said.

DA MP Annette Lovemore was also highly critical of the changes, calling them a charade.

"The Education Department can play with the pass rates all they like, but as long as children cannot read, write and calculate properly, they are not prepared for success in the labour market," she said.

A circular signed off on Friday by acting director-general Paddy Padayachee instructed principals to adjust marks if pupils fell short of the pass mark.

Principals can give pupils additional marks – but not more than 10%. - Zandile Mbabela