Do the maths: results not in line with SA's ambitions

South Africa's new growth path, set out by the minister of economic development, Ebrahim Patel, aims to create five million jobs by 2020, while the national development plan outlined by minister in the presidency national planning commissioner Trevor Manuel proposes creating 11-million jobs by 2030.

And while only a fraction of these jobs need to be filled by graduates with science- and mathematics-related skills, there are concerns that these positions will go unfilled. "We need more technically skilled people to drive the economy," says Shireen Motala, professor in the research and innovation division at the University of Johannesburg. Motala fears that there's an overall sense in the education sector, that the supply of potential students ready for higher education is too low to meet the economic needs of the country. The matric exemption rate for 2011 was 24.3% -- almost 5% higher than it was three years ago -- but Motala said this should be closer to 35% in order to build the human capital needed to drive economic growth.

Although the matric pass rate for 2011 was at a high of 70.2%, last year only 224 635 of the country's 496 090 matrics wrote the mathematics exam and fewer than half of the candidates passed the subject with at least 30%. "You need to score at least 50% to have any chance of getting into any degree course," says Jonathan Clark, director of the schools development unit at the University of Cape Town's School of Education. "It's only there that you start getting an education of quality." According to the education department, only 41 586 matrics - or less than 20% of those who wrote the maths exam - scored more than 50% for maths, the Mail & Guardian says.

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