The National Advisory Council on Innovation has registered a concern over the Grade 10 throughput rate and warned that the government's target of 75% of university academic staff having doctorates by 2030 is likely to fall short.
The throughput rate of Grade 10 learners remains a concern despite the impressive matric pass rate of 80.1% last year, the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) has said.
The NACI released its 2023 South African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Report to Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande on Thursday, 10 August.
The report, compiled by high-level experts, does not offer a wide range of recommendations, but includes data from various sources including the Department of Basic Education to assist the government and those wishing to conduct further studies.
The report stated that the Grade 10 throughput rate of 66.8% was worrying. The throughput rate is the Grade 10 learners who eventually wrote the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination.
The report found that 37.2% of those who sat for the NSC exams in 2022 were eligible to study for a bachelor's degree, the majority of whom were female, and that 4.2% of the 2022 NSC cohort passed with distinction.
"For mathematics, both participation rate and pass rate are low (37.2% and 55.0%, respectively)," the report read.
Independent schools performed even better than fee-paying public schools in mathematics and physical science, but relatively poorly in technical mathematics.
The...
