Concern at drop in maths, physical science matric results
By Okuhle Hlati
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Cape Town – Education experts have expressed concern over the performance of the 2020 matric class in physical sciences and maths, despite the commendable overall quality of passes.
Physical sciences saw a drastic drop in the pass rate from 75.5% in 2019 to 65.8% in 2020, while the number of candidates passing maths declined from 54.6% to 53.8%.
National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) president Nkosiphendule Ntantala said the drop of more than 15 000 candidates that enrolled for pure maths was disturbing.
“Naptosa believes too many learners are allowed to stop taking pure maths in Grade10 in favour of math literacy. Is this about schools and PEDs (provincial education departments) chasing the 100% pass rate?
Rural school children still left in the pits as thousands return to school
By Staff Reporter
SILINDILE NYATHIKAZI
Durban - THE degrading state of toilets, taps running dry, lack of scholar transport, dilapidated classrooms, and lack of food for pupils in rural areas overshadowed the âstate of readinessâ announced by the Department of Basic Education on Sunday.
This was according to teacher unions in the province, who conducted oversight visits, as thousands of pupils returned to school on Monday.
âWe visited four schools in the deep rural parts of KwaZulu-Natal because we know these are the schools really suffering and what we saw was beyond shocking. We saw pit toilets that pupils fall into, so they relieve themselves outside instead. Thereâs no water so they canât cook, there were no mobile classrooms as promised, some children could not get to school because there was no transport and some pupils were wearing torn masks that they were evidently given
A social media survey revealed that 53% of adults believe schools should not re-open on January 27, until the country recovers from the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.