On 27 September 2019, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) released a statement clarifying what the minister, Angie Motshekga said when she announced that a General Education Certificate (GEC) will be offered at the end of Grade 9. This came after the minister confused people when she spoke at the SADTU National Congress in Nasrec.
According to the statement released by the Department of Basic Education, “the GEC is predicated on the 3-Stream Model which has the academic pathway, the technical vocational pathway and the technical/occupational pathway.
“The certificate at the end of Grade 9 acknowledges a broad foundation of knowledge and skills as a basis for further learning and study, which could happen in a range of further education institutions.”
Empty exam room, Is Grade 9 the new Grade 12, there are fears that people will drop out of school with the proposed GEC. PHOTO: Stock Image Unsplash
The statement makes clear that offering a GEC does not mean people will leave school.
According to the department “the GEC would be a National Qualification Framework (NQF) registered qualification to be awarded at the end of Grade 9.”
The scheduled date of completion for the GEC plan is July 2020.
Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Ruksana Osman, says that the intention behind this decision needs to be assessed.
According to Osman, this schooling option has been here for quite some time.
“What is unclear is why the Department is implementing it. And if implemented what are the pathways open to such students. How will this improve unemployment rates?”
“The issue raises more questions than it can answer,” says Osman.
Professor at Stellenbosch University’s faculty of education, Aslam Fataar, says “it is neither a good nor a bad thing.”
The government never actually implemented the policy, it just allowed the system to proceed until Grade 12 and we sit with what we currently have,” says Fataar.
However, Fataar says that this GEC will allow learners to “acquire job skills after they finish their education. After Grade 9 they can now more readily enter into further education or even into the job market which means we address our problem of unemployment and skill shortages”
In a statement last week, Western Cape Education Minister, Debbie Schäfer, said that people need to distinguish between the principle of the proposed certificate and the actual outcome.
Schäfer believes that there are valid concerns that people may leave school without the required capabilities and that it should be addressed by ensuring that the quality of teaching is suitable.
Furthermore, Schäfer believes that if the quality is not adequate, then these learners “will not pass Matric in any case and will in all likelihood drop out of school.”
Schäfer explains that if the GEC “allows people who would otherwise drop out in Grade 9 to complete Grade 9 with some standardised certification, which they can then use to move into TVET colleges or basic employment, that is far better than simply allowing them to drop out of school.”
“The move by the DBE to the three-stream model is welcomed by us and is integral to improving the whole system,” says Schäfer.