Matric students who have failed grade 11, but were promoted to grade 12, do not have to write the full matric exams this year.
Rapport stated that the Department of Basic Education encouraged principals to give struggling learners the option to write 3 subjects this year, and the rest of their subjects in 2016.
This, many principals told Rapport, shows that the strategy to push failing students through has not worked.
According to these principals, the plan to let struggling matrics write only 3 subjects in 2015 is a strategy to keep the matric pass rate high.
Matric pass rate
On 5 January 2015, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga revealed that the matric pass rate for 2014 was 75.8%. However, this pass rate only tells part of the story.
One of the biggest concerns with regards to the matric results was the high dropout rate of students.
In 2003, 1,252,071 pupils entered the South African public schooling system as grade 1 pupils. Fast forward 12 years, and only 532,860 students wrote the 2014 matric exams.
If one looks at how many of the grade 1 learners successfully finished matric, the true pass rate is 32%.
Pushing failing students through in grade 10 and grade 11 was one of the strategies to ensure more learners made it to matric.
However, the latest information reveals that this strategy is starting to show weaknesses.
The full matric exam report is available in the Rapport of 25 October 2015.
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