Matrics performed poorly in maths - official

2011-12-30 22:06

Pretoria - Umalusi's chairperson has expressed concern on Friday at the poor performance in mathematics during the matric exams, as he announced that approval has been given for the results to be released.

Without revealing the pass rate in this subject, chairperson Sizwe Mabizela said: "We should be concerned about the poor performance in mathematics."

Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in general and further education and training, said matric exams managed by the basic education department (DBE) and Independent Examinations Board (IEB) were "valid, fair and credible", chairperson Sizwe Mabizela told reporters in Pretoria.

"Umalusi is satisfied that nothing has been compromised."

He said 620 000 students sat the DBE's examinations. The raw marks for 56 subjects were accepted, while the marks of three subjects were moderated upwards. Another eight subjects were moderated slightly downwards.

It was "significant" that 80% of the raw marks for the DBE were accepted without any adjustment.

Mabizela said 8 281 candidates wrote IEB examinations. They wrote 60 subjects, two of which were not National Senior Certificate subjects.

He said for 45 subjects the raw marks had been accepted, while for five subjects the marks were moderated upwards. The remaining 10 had their marks decreased.

The IEB still had to announce when the results would be released.

Mabizela said any adjustments were "significantly below" the maximum 10% allowed.

The results of examinations by the Eksamenraad vir Christelike Onderwys were problematic for the second year running.

"Umalusi has serious concerns about Eksamenraad vir Christelike Onderwys' ability and capacity to run a successful examination process.

These concerns range from their ability to set question papers of an appropriate standard to the actual management and conduct of the examinations process."

He said year marks of all ECO candidates had not been accepted and candidates' results were solely based on their examination results.

"Umalusi declares that the moderated marks are a fair reflection of learner performance in the examinations administered by ECO."

Mabizela said that 1 273 candidates sat the matric exams administered by ECO.

The raw marks for 18 subjects were accepted, while three subjects were moderated upwards slightly.

The 39 subjects where ECO had used questions papers set by DBE were approved without reservations.

- SAPA