One in four South African schools does not offer mathematics in grades 10, 11 or 12. This was revealed by the Department of Basic Education in response to parliamentary questions. How can this be when the subject is critical in efforts to reduce the skills shortage?The Department of Higher Education's National Scarce Skills list of the 100 occupations most in demand shows that every single job, from electrical engineer to medical scientist, requires the job holder to have passed maths.Hundreds of other jobs which don't appear on the list also require proficiency in maths.In 2011, the cabinet adopted the National Development Plan, which proposed a target of 450 000 matriculants achieving bachelor's degrees with maths and science by 2030 - we are unlikely to reach this target if the status quo remains.The Department of Basic Education says the lack of qualified and competent maths teachers in further education and training, the non-existence of posts, the exclusion of maths at special schools, and insufficient numbers of pupils to justify appointing a maths teacher are some of the reasons for maths not being offered.This is little comfort for those pupils who have the ability to excel in maths but are at schools that do not offer the subject. They are denied the opportunity to pursue any of the careers listed on the scarce-skills list.We appreciate that there are no quick fixes, that training maths teachers takes time, that most of the solutions are long-term.But short-term solutions are needed to ensure that the current crop of pupils is not lost because they have been deprived of competent instruction in maths.Qualified teachers from other schools need to be roped in to assist at schools without maths teachers, technology should be exploited and maths lessons should be beamed into schools that do not offer maths. Import teachers if need be. A generation of pupils demands that we act...