The South African school curriculum needs to be overhauled to alleviate pressure in the country’s job market, say education experts following the announcement of the national matric results.
Curriculum and instructional studies expert Professor Elize du Plessis from the Unisa said the country’s education system had yet to meet international standards. It is “by far the worst in the world”, and this has an impact on the backlog in the job market.
“Our education system is not preparing our kids to meet the real world. Hence, our curriculum needs to change so that our kids are properly prepared for the job market. We are still lacking when it comes to maths, physics, and other valuable subjects that are needed for the job market.
“Many of the students who have passed matric through our national system find it difficult to qualify to study at local universities, let alone at international ones, and employers are also unable to absorb them. Hence there is a job-market backlog,” said Du Plessis.
She said the national pass rate of 80.1%, which the education department claims is the highest since 2019, had improved. However, the country needed to up its game and change its curriculum because it was far worse when compared with that of other African countries.
Professor Gezani Baloyi, an expert in adult basic education at Unisa, agreed with Du Plessis, saying the country’s curriculum needed urgent interventions, and that the type of education in South Africa was outdated and overly general.
“The national pass rate is welcomed. However, we need to improve our human resources and identify the weakest link in our education system. We still have a long way to go. However, if we can also invest in vocational education and training and strengthen the curriculum, I believe we would be taking a step in the right direction,” said Baloyi.
He said it all started in pre-primary school, and that was where the government needed to start when improving the curriculum.
“The government needs to work with various stakeholders to revise the curriculum and make it conducive for this day and age. Institutions also need to do comprehensive research that provides solutions to the current problems,” said Baloyi.
Professor Sarita Ramsaroop, head of the Department of Childhood Education at Unisa, said she had been very surprised by the 80.1% pass rate announced by the department, as this was a significant increase, despite all the challenges of the past few years.
“I’m not sure how the department managed to come up with this rate – one would be interested to know the criteria used. And if you look at Kwazulu-Natal, which was hard-hit by bad weather conditions, it has come out in third place nationally with 83%,” said Ramsaroop.
She said this had been a difficult class for teachers, parents, and students, as they had been faced with the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted their schooling. The pandemic affected both teachers and students emotionally, as some had to deal with the loss of their loved ones.
“On top of these problems for the class of 2022, they had load shedding, which also robbed them of their time. We must also thank the parents, who contributed a lot in motivating the students for the exams,” said Ramsaroop.
Heideveld Secondary School Principal William Meck, whose school pass rate dropped from 73% to 68%, said it had been a difficult year for them, as they had been met with many challenges over the past three years.
“The Covid-19 disruptions led to some of the problems we had at the school. We didn’t have enough time to prepare the kids for matric. We lost almost two years of school, and catching up was very challenging. However, our students and teachers did their best to ensure that our kids succeeded, even under difficult circumstances,” said Meck.
Meanwhile, Sange Mane was a top achiever at Gugulethu Comprehensive High School. She said she was very surprised and shocked by her results, and that she was very thankful for all the help she had received from her teachers.
The school’s pass rate improved from 69% to 78%.