I was reading an article the other day in regard to the education standards in South Africa and that the Minister of Education wants to scrap the minimum pass level of 30%. I have to admit I was shocked that the pass percentage required is that low at 30% and in my year I think it was 40%. A vote to scrap the 30% pass mark is mind blowing and the pass mark will be whatever each student obtains as there is no pass mark, they all pass. I think this is an insult to teachers and to the students to even have this in place. In an around about way you have no confidence in the education system that students can pass with decent grades.
I cannot fathom the odea that one could pass subjects you have selected to write and can get 70% wrong and still pass. This is sending a wrong message by accepting low expectations without consequences. All this does is guarantees that the pass percentage each year is being inflated making the education system look good. The reality is by lowering these grade passes is they are failing the students.
30% as a pass is bad enough in my thinking and now scrapping the 30% entirely is just ludicrous and you may as well just give everyone an attendance certificate instead. What chance will students have in life if they are not required to push themselves at school? You do question the political leaders thinking in this manner and question what kind of education they had to even contemplate this being a good idea.
When I was living in the UK I was concerned about the education my kids were receiving especially with my son. My daughter was naturally smart and she loved school whilst my son was smart in his own way, but hated school. If my son stayed in the UK education system we would have problems and why we returned to South Africa. His first teacher funny enough was a teacher that was also my first teacher and she helped him so much in his first year it changed how he viewed school. The rest is history and he did very well at school and passed his National Certificate with very good marks.
As an employer you do take for granted that everyone these days has at least a basic education with the ability to read and write and to do some type of arithmetic. Back in the 1990's this was not the case and roughly out of 100 applicants maybe 5 could do all 3. From those 3 you would hope to find at least one applicant who could be suitable for the position.
Fast forward to present times and things have improved yet there is still a long way to go. We have presumed people could read or count and found out during stock take periods that they have very basic education and it is a struggle. Our cleaning lady not that long ago put toilet bleach in the hand soap dispenser as she was illiterate and was guessing.
We are always on the lookout for a young person who ticks all the boxes and would strengthen our small team of employees, but they are very rare to find. Education has failed the masses in South Africa and it is not surprising when you have ministers pushing for a National Certificate that has no requirements for a pass.
If you have no basic education you are unemployable and unfortunately one of the reasons why the unemployment rate is so high in South Africa. Not that long ago Zimbabweans were favored over the locals as they had a higher education and were generally smart. Most were too smart for their own good as they were in the most part very devious and having hired over the years more than 100 Zimbabweans have just one working for me today.