JOHANNESBURG - Mathematics has become somewhat of an anathema subject with many pupils choosing to stay away from it.
The Minister of Basic Education is concerned.
The 2024 National Senior Certificate Examination Technical Report was presented ahead of the release of matric results on Monday.
According to that report, Mathematics enrollment has been declining over the past two years.
Between 2022 and 2023, enrollment dropped by 8,141 from 276,241 in 2022 to 268,100 in 2023.
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This decline worsened between 2023 and 2024, with a further drop of 12,388, leaving the total enrollment at just 255,762 in 2024.
The report also noted significant declines in other subjects, including Accounting, Economics, Physical Science, Life Sciences, and Agricultural Studies.
Gwarube has put the blame squarely on the country's education system.
She's referred to the international benchmarking studies and South Africa's own Systemic Evaluation which states that pupils in Grades 5 to 9 underperform in Mathematics and Science compared to their global peers.
Gwarube says this results in scores of pupils progressing through the basic education system without mastering foundational skills, particularly literacy and numeracy.
She says the decline also poses a threat to the nation’s ability to advance in science, innovation, and economic development.
Gwarube warned that these 'foundational deficits' accumulate over time, limiting pupils' abilities to succeed in higher grades and diminishing their opportunities for further education and employment.
"These deficits accumulate over time, limiting pupils' abilities to succeed in higher grades, and in these gateway subjects and diminishing their prospects of accessing further education and employment opportunities, " she said.
Gwarube says her department will soon embark on an urgent 'strategic reorientation' of the system towards strengthening foundational learning.
She says provinces, districts and schools will be expected to put together plans to address the decline of enrolments in critical subjects.
- by Zandile Khumalo