THE 2012 GRADE 12 RESULTS

Most South Africans are pleased with the results of the class of 2012. All provinces showed improvements from the past year except for the Western Cape that registered a drop by a fraction of a point but still did better than the other seven provinces.

Congratulations to Gauteng for leading the pack. While accolades are heaped on the candidates, their parents and teachers it is worth stating openly that the MEC for Education, Babra Creecy deserves all the praise. She was highly instrumental in ensuring that her province does well. She was in the coal face and jumped about like an official in the department and not the political head only.

She showed that it is not enough to say one has been deployed by her party and do nothing to validate the trust and the deployment.

We hope other politicians in government have learnt from her book and that of Minister Motsoaledi that a political head must be hands on and not only pontificate on the good work expected from subordinates wihout showing how.

The results are a glowing success as more and more candidates have passed – but where to? Execpt that some may not be able t proceed with their studies owing to a variety of reasons, some passes really are not worth the paper they are printed on.

One wonders what a pass in national certificate but not allowed to higher education means. The holder of such certificate may not even enroll at a college of higher education. What is the worth of such certificate when one takes into account that most schools offer curricula that are academically inclined.

The big question is whether those who sat for the examinations knew what they were setting themselves up for. Some or even most only knew they will be sitting for the Grade 12 examinations unaware that there are four gradations to the passes or results.

It is equally important to go back to the humdrum question of quality versus quanity. The issue of how many have obtained good symbols in their passes comes into play.

There is no substance in the argument that it is more difficult to pass matric these days than it was in the past. Those who sat for the then Joint Matriculation Board Examinations will know that there were requirements for subminima in respect of the different papers in a subject with more than one paper before one could pass in the subject in question.

While we congratulate the Department of Basic Education and all attached to it in respect of the results they should not be carried away by what we have on paper. They should also not be discouraged and feel that South Africans are fastidious. We want the best of the best results; in fact we want the best of the best of services all round.

We should not be told that we are better than what happened in 1980 or so because that is why we put the in power to do better that their predecessors.

Sent by: Sipho Mfundisi

President: UCDP

Cell: 083 469 3473