Maths 'magic wand' questioned

THE Eastern Cape Education Department's announcement of a more than 4 percentage point improvement in the overall mathematics and science pass rates for 2012 was yesterday met with both scepticism and cautious optimism by education specialists.

The department announced a 4.6 percentage point improvement in the 2012 maths pass rate for the province, citing an overall 38.1% pass rate, and a 4.4-point improvement in the overall science pass rate, with 50.4% of candidates who wrote the exam passing the subject.

Education specialist and former NMMU lecturer Prof Susan van Rensburg, while seeing some cause for optimism, was yesterday sceptical about the announced improvements.