The Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga says there’s not going to be a pass one, pass all rule for learners at the end of 2020 due to the disruption in this academic year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learners lost a couple of months due to the national lockdown.
Motshekga was answering questions in the National Assembly.
She says South Africa is an independent country that is making its own decision and will not adopt the Kenyan government strategy and that of other countries and allow learners to proceed to the next grades without writing the final exams.
“The Kenyan government has chosen a certain part; that’s a Kenyan story. Our story is we want our kids to go back to school and try and claw as much as they can and get them to be promoted. We have decided that there’s not going to be pass one, pass all. They are going to be assessed on what we would have taught them.”
Department of Basic Education publishes a revised school calendar for 2020:
Kenyan education
Kenya announced in July that it will resume in January 2021 when the COVID-19 curve is expected to flatten. The country’s ministry of education settled for January 2021 for both primary and secondary schools.
In a historic first for the country, there will be no national examinations in 2020.
“If you look at it from a perspective, you see I have more time to prepare for the exam, but you had that excitement to finish school and join university,” one Kenyan student said.
COVID-19 effects in schools to be felt for at least three years
Motshekga warned in August that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will be with schools for at least three years. She says although they have trimmed down the curriculum, learners will only finish about 70% of the work they are supposed to do in 2020.
Angie Motsekga says public schools will not be able to complete the 2020 school curriculum:
The Minister said it would have been a catastrophe if the school year was completely lost.
“Honestly, it would have been catastrophic. For me, it’s even catastrophic as it is to have especially poor kids who do not have access to reading materials and ICT access at home. Since March up to now, they have not been going to school. For me, it’s a disaster. Even when we had trimmed the curriculum we still won’t be able to claw-back what we lost. So it’s a disaster. So I think we should clawback the little that we can.”
