The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) wishes the Class of 2024 well as they sit for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) final examination starting today, 21 October.

The examination is a culmination of a 12-year journey they started as young children, and the beginning of the next chapter of their lives as they stride towards adulthood.

Given only about 60% of the pupils who started school 12 years ago will sit for the matric exam, it is clear these youngsters have had to overcome many hurdles to reach this point.

The Covid-19 pandemic kept pupils out of school for several months in 2020 in accordance with lockdown regulations, threatening to derail their learning. Fortunately, members of our dedicated Affiliate, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), along with other committed teachers ensured that the work missed was covered.

With Covid-19 in the past the education system has other challenges to contend with including providing a safety net to ensure that going into the future, the system does not lose 40% of pupils along the way to matric.

The recently signed Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act’s establishment of Grade R as a compulsory part of schooling will lay an important foundation and help reduce the dropout rate. However, this will be hard to achieve considering the painful cuts to the Basic Education budget and possible retrenchment of contract teachers.

COSATU is planning a picket outside Parliament on 30 October when Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, is set to present the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). The aim of the picket is to call upon government to abandon the misguided austerity measures that have driven the economy to stagnate and instead to craft a People’s Budget that capacitates the state by filling critical vacancies, appoints competent managers, fights corruption, invests in infrastructure and hires more teachers instead of cutting teachers’ jobs.

It is a sad fact that for many who will be sitting for the NSC, there is no pot of gold on the other side. With the expanded unemployment rate for youth aged between 15 and 24 at 70.6%, the chances of securing a job after results are released are extremely difficult. For those who qualify for tertiary education but cannot afford to pay, the path to securing funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is testing.   

Cuts to government’s commitment to fund free tertiary education for the poor remains under threat as NSFAS too has seen funding decline and qualifying thresholds eroded by inflation as well as institutional chaos leading to qualifying students struggling to access their funding and still to cover shortfalls and months of delays, in particular for accommodation fees.

Those fortunate enough to have been granted funding, have to navigate myriad delays in receiving their allowances. Some students have found themselves evicted by landlords who have grown tired of waiting for NSFAS to make rental payments. This while NSFAS rents prime office space in Cape Town for the hefty price tag of R2 million per month.

COSATU commends Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education for putting pressure on the financial aid scheme to find more appropriately prized office space.

Matriculants must do well in these exams to help ensure they overcome these multiple challenges and lay a foundation for a successful future. COSATU urges parents and teachers to support the pupils in every way possible at this very important time.

Whilst these are difficult times, matriculants should not despair.  Those who qualify for tertiary education and NSFAS should pursue these opportunities.  Those who do not should explore applying for remarks as well as rewriting exams and subjects where needed.  All forms of tertiary education, including TVET Colleges should be explored by learners as they prepare for the next journey of their lives. 

Education is a lifelong journey and all should seek to constantly improve their knowledge and enhance their skills.

Issued by COSATU

Zanele Sabela(COSATU National Spokesperson)

Mobile: 079 287 5788 / 077 600 6639

Email: zanele@cosatu.org.za