large text
regular text
Article by Michael Appel
Pretoria - The introduction of Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy as compulsory subjects has resulted in more mathematically competent school leavers entering the job market.
Ahead of the announcement of matric results on Tuesday, Education Department Director General Duncan Hindle told media the fact that over 200 000 of the 263 464 matrics that wrote Mathematical Literacy passed, is positive for the country.
"There were 207 230 matrics who passed Mathematical Literacy at over 30 percent which will be of great benefit to the human resource development of the country," the Director General said.
The new curriculum contains seven subjects including two languages, Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, Life Orientation and three optional subjects, Mr Hindle explained.
To attain a National Senior Certificate a learner is required to pass three subjects at 40 percent and three subjects at 30 percent. The option to learners to take subjects on either Standard Grade or Higher Grade has also fallen away as part of the new curriculum.
Under the new curriculum 25 percent of a learners mark is determined via school-based assessment, while 75 percent is then determined by external examination, Mr Hindle said.
He alluded to the success of the Department of Education's Dinaledi schools project which is aimed at increasing access to Mathematics and Science in underprivileged schools.
The project has contributed to a steady increase in the pass rate in those subjects, and the number of participating schools expanded from 400 to 500 in 2008.
The project entails the provision of learning materials and support for teachers with an emphasis on content knowledge. One of the aims of the project is to ensure that teachers are efficient and production in the teaching of Mathematics and Science.
Speaking in late October 2007, the Mr Hindle told Parliament that he hoped to see 50 000 mathematics passes by 2009.
"Although there had been a dip in 2006, there has been an enormous growth in the number of passes [in mathematics]," Mr Hindle told Parliament.
Also speaking at the release of the matric results, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said this year there were 589 912 candidates compared to 564 000 in 2007.
"The candidates of 2008 are the first to receive this new qualification; the first to write a national school leaving exam that is based on the NCS.
"All candidates write the same papers, [and] there is no Higher Grade and no Standard Grade as in the past.
"There have been many challenges in implementing the new curriculum and teachers must be commended for the able and professional manner in which thousands of them set about making sense of the new curriculum," the minister said.
With respect to mathematical literacy, 263 464 candidates wrote 207 230 passed and 16 557 achieved marks of 80 percent and above, Ms Pandor highlighted.
The results reflect a positive achievement for the new curriculum that intends to swell the number of learners who are competent in mathematics and science, she said.
According to the education department, with the introduction of the new curriculum, the number of learners doing mathematics and mathematical literacy at schools has increased by a total of 244 447 to 592 017 compared to 2007. - BuaNew
Article Tags: mathematics and mathematical literacy
Previous page
Print
Email
Favourites
Export to PDF
Customer Care