Education analysts have warned that the plan to make it impossible for struggling foundation phase learners to fail may have dire consequences for the country’s education system.<\/p>\n
In her 2018\/2019 budget speech<\/a><\/strong>, Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga said that one of her key focuses for the upcoming year was a review of the country\u2019s progression and promotion policies \u2013 especially in the lower grades.<\/p>\n \u201cA number of education experts have opined on this matter, and the overwhelming message is that it does not make any educational sense to make young children aged six to ten years, repeat a grade<\/strong>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the experts, the children who repeat, on the whole, gain absolutely nothing. On the contrary, for many affected children, repetition is a powerful early signal of failure \u2013 a signal that lasts through the individual\u2019s life.<\/p>\n While Motshekga said that policy change was supported by academic research, some education experts have slammed the proposal, saying that it is only delaying the problems until later.<\/p>\n In a column for The City Press <\/a><\/strong>Tholisa Matheza and Diane Hendricks, education specialists at the University of Cape Town warned that the change is “likely to<\/strong> create more burdens<\/strong> in an already burdened education system”.<\/p>\n “Currently, learning and content backlogs in grades 8 and 9 in mathematics, science and English are becoming more of a challenge,” the researchers said.<\/p>\n “This is largely because poor performance in these subjects results from a gap in foundational knowledge and understanding of content.”<\/p>\n