Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi and provincial education MEC Matome Chiloane have voiced strong support for consolidating the examination processes between private and public schools.
The Independent Examination Board (IEB), which provides examinations for private schools, and the National Senior Certificate (NSC) for public schools both use the national curriculum but differ in their teaching methods and exam structure.
The IEB matric class of 2024 achieved a pass rate of 98.4%, while the NSC matric class of 2024 achieved a pass rate of 87.3%.
On Tuesday Chiloane stressed the importance of the need for a single, unified examination system, regardless of the type of school or fees. He called for an end to the debate between IEB and NSC exams, calling for a standard examination all pupils can sit for. He said this would ensure fairness and equality in the education system.
Lesufi said a unified system would achieve consistent results. “When you do benchmarking for the education system, they say public school pupils cannot read for meaning. They do not incorporate the IEB because we have different sectors of education,” he said.
Lesufi argued that IEB and NSC students write the same exams at university.
“Why do we not prepare our pupils early, have them write the same exams at university but they can't do that in high school?”
TimesLIVE
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