Matric not trusted

There is growing concern about the credibility of the matric qualification, with fewer and fewer tertiary educational institutions and companies relying on it when evaluating prospective students and employees.

Students who earn a matric exemption still have to write the National Benchmarking Tests before they are granted admission to study for a degree at the University of Cape Town or to courses at a number of faculties at other universities.

Even for pupils who are not planning tertiary studies, a National Senior Certificate no longer has the value it once had and they will be lucky to land a job.

Only one in four of the pupils who earn a matric exemption will go on to finish their degree within the minimum time.

To pass matric, pupils must achieve 40% in their home language and in two other subjects, and a minimum of 30% in the remaining subjects. They can fail in only one of their seven subjects.

This is among the reasons Professor Jonathan Jansen, vice- chancellor of the University of the Free State, cites when he labels the National Senior Certificate pass mark "grossly misleading".

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga will announce the matric results today.

It is expected that 75% of the 707136 students who wrote matric will pass - up from 73.9% last year. But University of Johannesburg deputy vice-chancellor Tiniyiko Maluleke, "speaking in my personal capacity", said universities insist on additional entrance or literacy tests because they do not trust the matric certificate.

"Companies and universities are questioning the worth of the matric certificate but they are doing so in the most courteous and indirect manner. You are not going to have university vice-chancellors calling a press conference and saying: 'We don't trust these results'. That will never happen," said Maluleke.

"The matric pass mark is not a mechanism one can use to forecast success at university or in the workplace," said Chris Kloppers, spokesman for the Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie.

National Benchmarking Tests, to be written prior to university admission, were instituted in 2005 to give universities information about student capabilities and to help them in curriculum planning.

Wits University does not require students to write the tests for admission purposes.

But education expert and University of Stellenbosch economist Nicholas Spaull said that universities were increasingly using National Benchmarking Tests in addition to the matric exam to determine who qualifies for a place.

He said: "When applying to UCT engineering, the applicant's score on the National Senior Certificate and the National Benchmark Test are weighted equally whereas in the past matric was the only exam used."

Students applying for health sciences degrees must write tests before admission.

Rhodes University does not require candidates to write National Benchmarking Tests but its website tells them "it is advisable to do so".

Students with a matric exemption are often ill-prepared for tertiary studies.

In response to the high drop-out rates at tertiary institutions, and the protracted time it takes students to graduate, the Council for Higher Education has set up a team chaired by Professor Njabulo Ndebele to determine how universities could improve students' chances of graduation.

The report, released last year, revealed that:

• Only 27% of students who study full-time finish their degree in the time allocated;
• Up to 55% who begin studies do not graduate;
• White students have a 50% higher chance of completing their degree than black students; and
• 48% of entrants will take five years to complete a three-year degree.

The professors blamed the schools system for ill-prepared students.

The Ndebele team said it did not believe that schools could produce the quality or quantity of students needed by universities "in the foreseeable future".

There are also questions about the competency of matric markers. Last year, trade union pressure prevented teachers marking exams being compelled to take competency tests. Only markers in Western Cape wrote such tests.

Matriculants are more likely to get a job than any of their 500000 peers who started school with them in Grade 1 but dropped out, but the worth of the matric certificate is rapidly depreciating.