A private school that failed a pupil despite him meeting pass requirements for the government curriculum has agreed to “progress” him to the next grade after the intervention of a provincial education department.
Rustenburg Educational College in North West failed the grade 11 pupil after he did not meet the school’s minimum pass requirement of 60% in all subjects for promotion to grade 12.
However, the college follows the public school Caps (Curriculum and Policy Assessment Statement) curriculum, and according to this, a pupil has to achieve a minimum of 40% in three subjects, including an official home language, and a minimum of 30% in three others.
The pupil, who repeated grade 11 this year, fulfilled the Caps progression requirements, but the school initially stuck to its guns and refused to promote him.
According to the government’s promotion and progression policy, pupils in grades 10 and 11 may only be kept back for one extra year in the phase if they fail to satisfy the promotion requirements. Those who fail to meet the promotion requirements after repeating a year have to be “progressed” to the next grade.
To prevent his son from repeating grade 11 for the third time in 2023, the boy’s father asked the North West education department to intervene.
The father said the school had passed his son in grades 8, 9 and 10, though he did not obtain 60% in all subjects.
According to the pupil’s grade 10 report, seen by TimesLIVE Premium, he only obtained 60% in one of seven subjects, but it stated “he passes grade 10 with unsatisfactory results”.
School principal Jan Horn initially told TimesLIVE Premium the pupil “was not ready to go to grade 12”.
“The parents signed a code of conduct. It’s got nothing to do with Caps. Private schools are allowed to have higher standards and can work out their own pass and fail policies. Unfortunately he didn’t meet our criteria.”
Horn predicted there was an 80% chance the pupil would fail Afrikaans and maths literacy in matric, adding: “What will the child do then? When the child fails matric, the child can’t come back to the school. The child must go and get matric somewhere else like a FET [Further Education and Training College].”
The school is within its rights but should assist the child to get a place in another school by issuing a transfer card that shows the child has passed according to Caps national policy.
— Mandla Mthembu, Naisa chair
He did not respond to why the pupil was promoted to grade 11 despite not obtaining 60% in all subjects in grade 10.
He said 13 grade 11 pupils would have to repeat the grade next year.
Lebogang Montjane, executive director of the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (Isasa), said the pupil satisfied the requirements in terms of the national policy on promotion and progression.
He said regulations on the national curriculum statement (NCS) for grade R to 12 allows independent schools to deviate “in terms of promotion requirements but only in grade R to 9.
“For grades 10 to 12 there is no deviation provided by these regulations.”
Mandla Mthembu, chair of the National Alliance of Independent Schools Associations (Naisa), said a pupil achieving 50% in a school which has set 60% as a pass mark, like Rustenburg Educational College, will not be allowed to progress to the next grade.
“The school is within its rights but should assist the child to get a place in another school by issuing a transfer card that shows the child has passed according to Caps national policy.”
But he said most schools did not accept new pupils in grade 12 because the National Senior Certificate was a three-year qualification starting in grade 10. “However, it is possible if schools communicate during the transfer.”
Said Mthembu: “One of the reasons parents choose independent schools is because of the excellent results these schools continue to achieve year after year. Such schools make sure they have a gatekeeping mechanism to ensure a 100% pass in matric.”
He said setting higher standards for promotion in the build-up grades towards the final grade 12 exit-exam “is one of the ways that independent schools use to maintain their reputation of being excellent schools.
“There is nothing wrong or illegal about that.”
Umalusi spokesperson Biki Lepota said the NCS regulations indicated independent schools can have promotion and progression requirements that deviate from the NCS “provided they are higher and have been determined in consultation with parents.
“The NCS provides for independent schools to set promotion requirements that are either on par with or higher than those stipulated in the NCS.”
North West education department spokesperson Elias Malindi confirmed that the subdistrict and circuit managers communicated with the owner of the school and “reached a solution that the pupil will progress to grade 12 in the same school”.
He added they had received confirmation of this.
“We also encourage the school to look at all other cases [of pupils who failed grade 11]. We acted after a complaint by a parent.”
Horn did not respond to queries at the time of publication about whether the pupil would progress to grade 12.
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