Dr Sheetal Bhoola is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Zululand, and the director at StellarMaths (Sunningdale). Picture: Supplied
South Africa is once again lagging on the global scale of mathematics and science assessments amidst primary school learners. This has been the recorded results for the last few years.
An international assessment in Grade 4 and Grade 8 maths, is the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), is conducted every four years. The initial assessment was launched in 1995 and has been regularly improving their assessment approaches so that the content is relevant and appropriate for the Grade 4 and Grade 8 learner internationally. These assessments are important yardsticks to determine how South African learners compare and indicate whether we are preparing future generations to enter the global workforce.
Unfortunately, in 2024, South Africans who participated in the assessment were ranked last yet again. In previous years it was recorded that South Africa assessed school learners in Grade 5 and Grade 9 with the hope that they would fair better in the global assessment. This indicates that heads of education were fully aware that there was a possibility that South Africans would perform poorly in comparison to learners from other countries once again.
It is no surprise that the apartheid system and historical impact of it has been blamed for the poor assessment results of our youth in mathematics and science.
Today, we are also faced with other challenges, many of which are self-inflicted. Although South Africa spends a significant amount of money on education and its development, it clearly has not been enough. Comparatively, other countries have bigger budgets for their educational sectors, but it is also dependent on other socio-economic and developmental factors. A central problem is the persistence of corruption in the management of national funds in all sectors. This money could be utilised in the education sector to pay teachers salaries.
In recent months, we have had to accept budget cuts per province which has resulted in fewer teachers being employed in 2025. The quality of education is severely impacted and yet we claim to aspire to integrate our youth into the global economy. Then there were budgets specifically for school construction and refurbishment that were not utilised, and we are uncertain as to how these unspent funds will be utilised and why they were not utilised.
Teaching the sciences and mathematics as well as technological development subjects such as robotics and coding should be a priority as it gives one the foundation to technological innovation, problem solving and critical thinking. These are very important functional skills that can contribute to personal financial mobility and national development as well. Technological advancements have been one of the many high income accruing sources for countries like China and India over the past few years. Similarly, we need to be far more technologically innovative this starts with developing excellence in maths and science.
Most lower-income classes in South Africa send their children to public and semi-private schools, and therefore the Department of Education needs to determine how they can improve the quality of maths and science teaching and learning in these schools. Teachers skilled in these subjects are not as plentiful as teachers in other subjects and often they have an opportunity to earn better salaries at private institutions of learning. In these instances, the best teachers are employed by the growing private education sector. Salaries need to be raised to attract much-needed maths and science educators to public schools. In addition, facilities that are technologically relevant need to be provided for learners in these schools. The resources and access to facilities need to be in place before we can address improving our educational standards to meet international yardsticks.
This is mandatory if we are to develop a nation that is fully equipped to improve our national gross domestic product and enter the global economy.
Mismanagement of government expenditure is a sure way to decrease budgets in all sectors. This must be halted for the greater good of our society. An increased budget that can help facilitate the provision of the correct resources and teachers can contribute towards learners performing better in the classroom and on the international platform.
Has been sufficient importance given to the development of restructuring a quality education post democracy? Is the current curriculum content relevant, of a high standard and globalised appropriately? How do we intend to improve the development of our society if education is not a high priority? These are the questions we should be asking.
Dr. Sheetal Bhoola is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Zululand, and the director at StellarMaths (Sunningdale).
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