Gcewu High School's 100% pass rate in last year's matric exams seems like a great achievement.
But a closer look at the numbers of the school, in KwaMahleka in Pietermaritzburg, turns this picture around, as only four of its 46 matriculants wrote the whole exam.
The other 42, all progressed pupils, were encouraged to write the exams over two sittings, in October/November 2018 and June 2019. Progressed pupils are those pushed into matric after failing grade 11 twice.
Education experts this week criticised the multiple examinations opportunity (MEO) system, saying schools were using it to inflate their pass rate by encouraging weaker pupils to "modularise", or write the exams over two years.
The results of only those pupils who write all six subjects at one sitting are used to calculate a school's pass rate. At least two schools openly admitted their pass rates would have been very low had all their progressed pupils written six subjects last year.
Of the 128,634 progressed pupils who entered for the exams last year, only 33,412 wrote all six subjects in October/November and 60.2% of them passed.
Statistics from the department of basic education's (DBE's) examination report for 2018 show that many schools achieved either a 100% pass rate or above 70% after many progressed pupils were excluded from writing all subjects at one go.
According to DBE criteria, progressed pupils who show an acceptable level of achievement in all subjects in the preparatory exams will be allowed to write all six subjects.
A senior member of management at Gcewu High conceded the school's pass rate would have been much lower had all progressed pupils written the exam at one sitting. "Yes, it could be perceived that the school was involved in gatekeeping [a practice of keeping weaker pupils back]."
Bethlehem Comprehensive Secondary in the Free State had 94 progressed pupils last year. A total of 36 pupils wrote the full exam, including 21 who were progressed. Of those, 31 passed.
A senior management member at the school admitted teachers told weaker pupils not to write the exams "because you will fail".
He said: "We identified teachers who were teaching irrelevant topics. We have introduced the period register where every teacher entering a particular class must indicate which topic they taught."
Nic Spaull, a senior researcher in the economics department at Stellenbosch University, said some schools and districts were pressured into improving their pass rate.
"While one would hope this translates into extra effort and more resources going towards learners and schools, many schools know there are ways they can increase their pass rates without changing anything. One way is to get learners to write their exams in the MEO format. That way they don't count towards the 'official' matric pass rate at the school."
He said the solution would be reporting multiple statistics for schools and provinces and not just being obsessed with the one matric pass rate for full-time pupils.
Mary Metcalfe, an associate professor of education at the University of Johannesburg, said the push to improve the percentage pass could mean other equally important targets are ignored.
"Schools must use their professional judgment to make decisions, in consultation with parents, that are in the best interests of learners without being pressured to achieve a high NSC [national senior certificate] pass," she said.
Limpopo education department spokes-person Sam Makondo said: "The assertion that the department encourages progressed learners to modularise for glorification of results is far from the truth."
DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the policy on progression was intended to minimise the high dropout rate.
He said were it not for this policy, 20,122 progressed pupils, who passed and produced 2,115 distinctions, would have still been repeating grade 11.
Mhlanga said the results of the 95,222 MEO candidates were incomplete as they had not sat for the whole exam yet.
"The policy is in its infant stages and there are challenges which the department strives to constantly mitigate to ensure a fair and credible examination."..