Maimane slams department over Grade 9 exit certificate

Academics and opposition political parties are crying foul over the introduction of a Grade 9 exit certificate.

Critics have in the past slammed the new certificate saying it would have the unintended consequence of encouraging young people to leave school early, instead of staying the course until matric.

This week, leader of BuildOneSA, Mmusi Maimane and a fierce critic of the country’s basic education system, called out basic education minister, Angie Motshekga for introducing the General Education and Training Certificate (GETC).

First announced by the minister in 2015 and confirmed by the department of basic education, Director for National Assessments, Dr Mark Chetty in 2021, the introduction of the General Education Certificate (GEC) as a new method of assessment in the General Education and Training Certificate (GETC), it will soon become a reality.

This past week, the department of basic education revealed that it was finally on track to pilot the programme to be fully launched next year.

Department spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga in a statement said the GETC will recognise learners’ achievements at the end of the compulsory schooling phase in grade 9, which is equivalent to a level 1 qualification on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

This, he said, was to ensure that the ‘missing middle’ - just over 40% of learners who do not progress beyond this level - get recognised by the system.

“Many of the approximately 40% of learners who exit the education system without any qualification would now achieve a GETC, and this would provide them with some currency upon entering the labour market and would positively impact youth employment,” the department said.

Grade 9 falls under the General and Education Training band, the purpose which is to equip learners with skills that will enable them to start working or further their studies.

Although the department previously warned that the certificate was not an “exit” qualification, it has referred to it as one of two exit points in the schooling system in its performance plan.

“The expected introduction of the GETC in 2025 would ensure that every young South African leaves the schooling system with a national certificate,” it said, noting that currently hundreds of students drop out of the school system annually without a qualification, which hinders them from finding jobs.

Mhlanga said the programme had already been piloted across a few schools in 2022 and launched in 2023, adding that more than 30 subjects had been added to the programme.

“We have decided to step up the GETC pilot in schools, including Schools of Skill in 2024/25.

“The department has introduced more than 35 new subjects in the FET (further education and training) phase in the past seven years. This was done to expand the curriculum offering and give the learners more choices,” he said.

Reacting to the latest development this week, Maimane said the ANC was hellbent on continuing Hendrik Verwoerd’s Bantu Education.

“It is BOSA’s view that Hendrik Verwoerd would be proud of this certificate. As the architect of Bantu Education during Apartheid, Verwoerd believed that an African child should not be educated past a certain basic threshold because there was no need for a skilled black labour force.

“Today, the ANC government is – in effect - determined to mirror this policy through its “Bantu Education Certificate”. It limits young, mainly black South Africans to either low skilled jobs or unemployment,“ Maimane said.

Saturday Star

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