Fears are looming that KwaZulu-Natal could see yet another disastrous matric examination.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union in KwaZulu-Natal said that pupils had been “walked” through grade 11 to grade 12 even though they had not passed grade 11.
Sadtu provincial chairman Nomarashiya Caluza, speaking at a press conference in Durban, said: “Having done that, the department has not been able to come up with a dedicated programme to assist with the demanding work of Grade 12.”
She said that these pupils did not then have the ability to cope with the end of year examinations.
According to her more than 90,000 pupils had been moved into Grade 12 without actually passing.
Dedicated staff were not being provided by the department to deal with these pupils who were behind.
“They (the department) know there has been no programme to assist them,” she said. She said the fact that many pupils were not allowed to repeat Grade 12 meant that the department was “dumping” pupils.
“Learners should be allowed to repeat matric,” she said.
She warned that pupils who could not repeat Grade 12 were “creating a market for these fly-by-night finishing schools.”
She warned that the department’s expectations of a 70 percent pass rate might be unrealistic. In 2015 KwaZulu-Natal obtained a 60.7 percent pass rate.
There will be 171,000 pupils in the province who will write the matric examinations.
Caluza said the union was not in support of pupils being automatically passed.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
