JONATHAN JANSEN | The science of pushing matrics over the line: it’s not pretty
Shortcuts often come with dubious ethical and educational practices
On October 21 an estimated 727,121 full-time candidates will start to write their final examinations (National Senior Certificate) working through 167 question papers with the results to be released in mid-January 2025. Stunningly, there were 1.1-million learners in grade 10 in 2022, begging the question what happened to the 34% of missing learners since then or, for that matter, the 40% who started in grade 1 in 2012 when there were 1,209,973 children anticipating a full and complete education over 12 years? The staggering drop-off in candidates between grades 10 and 12 still does not ring alarm bells in either the department of basic education or enjoy sustained close-up analysis in the education research departments of our public universities...
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