Failing pupils in the lower grades was senseless and unnecessary, said Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, while tabling her department’s budget vote speech for the 2018-19 financial year in parliament yesterday.
As a result, the minister plans to review the progression and promotion policies for school grades, especially in lower grades, to decrease repetition rates.
Motshekga said the high failure rate in lower grades did not make any sense.
“A number of education experts have opined on this matter, and the overwhelming message is that it does not make any educational sense to make young children aged six to 10 years, repeat a grade.
“According to the experts, the children who repeat, on the whole, gain absolutely nothing. On the contrary, for many affected children, repetition is a powerful early signal of failure – a signal that lasts through the individual’s life,” said Motshekga.
This comes just two months after the MEC of education in the Eastern Cape , Mandla Makupula, made a shocking revelation that Grade 1 was among the grades with the highest failure rate, with 20% of pupils repeating.
The Eastern Cape had the worst Grade 1 failure rate in the country, yet another blow for a province that already has the highest Grade 12 failure rate.
Motshekga said the department would focus on Grades 9 to 11, as repetition and drop-out rates were also high in these grades.
Giving a breakdown on how the R23-billion budget for the 2018 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) period, Motshekga stated upfront that budgetary constraints in the sector had attracted a lot of attention over the last year, largely because of weak economic growth. She announced the following infrastructure allocations:
- Education infrastructure grant (EIG): R9.9-billion – a decrease of 1.3%;
- The accelerated schools infrastructure delivery initiative (Asidi): R1.5 billion – a 43.5% decrease;
- Pupils with severe to profound intellectual disabilities: R185.5-million, almost three times the R72-million allocation of 2017-18;
- Early Grade Reading Assessment (Egra) R11-million; and
- National senior certificate learner retention programme, also known as the second chance programme: R65-million. — arethal@dispatch.co.za
Failing juniors ‘senseless'
As a result, the minister plans to review the progression and promotion policies for school grades, especially in lower grades, to decrease repetition rates.
Motshekga said the high failure rate in lower grades did not make any sense.
“A number of education experts have opined on this matter, and the overwhelming message is that it does not make any educational sense to make young children aged six to 10 years, repeat a grade.
“According to the experts, the children who repeat, on the whole, gain absolutely nothing. On the contrary, for many affected children, repetition is a powerful early signal of failure – a signal that lasts through the individual’s life,” said Motshekga.
This comes just two months after the MEC of education in the Eastern Cape , Mandla Makupula, made a shocking revelation that Grade 1 was among the grades with the highest failure rate, with 20% of pupils repeating.
The Eastern Cape had the worst Grade 1 failure rate in the country, yet another blow for a province that already has the highest Grade 12 failure rate.
Motshekga said the department would focus on Grades 9 to 11, as repetition and drop-out rates were also high in these grades.
Giving a breakdown on how the R23-billion budget for the 2018 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) period, Motshekga stated upfront that budgetary constraints in the sector had attracted a lot of attention over the last year, largely because of weak economic growth. She announced the following infrastructure allocations:
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