Equal Education demand government help to fight gang culture in schools

Suck at math? Don’t worry, you now only need to know 20% to pass

The department of (very) basic education has once again lowered its own standards in order to make lazy teachers look good on paper.

Equal Education demand government help to fight gang culture in schools

If you’re in grade 7, 8 or nine and find that achieving 40% is just too much to handle, then you’re in luck.

In the spirit of the season, Angie Motshekga’s department of increasingly basic education has lowered the mathematics requirement to just 20%.

So, instead of improving the standard of teachers allowed to impart knowledge to learners, we lower the standard required of the kids… it’s like bringing the soccer net closer, because the coach didn’t schedule in enough fitness sessions to build up the players’ stamina.

Anyway, the Western Cape Education Department’s Brian Schreuder told Cape Talk that this is for real, as learners were passing – a relative term in the department of basic education – other subjects but couldn’t wrap their heads around math.

The new guidelines read: When a learner, specifically those in Grades 7 to 9, has failed mathematics it means they can’t be promoted to another level because mathematics is a compulsory pass subject.

“Mathematics is a huge problem in our society. The quality and the number of passes in mathematics is a challenge,” Schreuder said.

The department has instructed that learners who only failed math be let through if they’ve achieved at least 20%.

 “A decision was taken that the group of learners who fail mathematics must not have less than 20% minimum pass mark to be given an opportunity to do mathematics literacy,” Schreuder told Cape Talk.

You can listen to the full interview here:

Also read:SA ranked second worst in International Maths and Science Study