Parliament is set to vote tomorrow on a motion to abolish the 30% minimum pass mark for individual subjects in the National Senior Certificate (NSC), a motion brought by Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane, who has branded the current benchmark “a low threshold that does a disservice to the country.”
The motion, while not binding law, seeks to compel the Minister of Basic Education to review and reform assessment criteria. Maimane argues the 30% standard is “criminal” and fails to prepare learners for further education or employment.
“It communicates deeply about our level of ambition as a country,” Maimane said in an interview ahead of the vote. “If we are asking learners to be proficient at 30%, we’re setting them up for failure.”
The current NSC requires learners to pass at least three subjects at 40% (including Home Language) and three subjects at 30% across seven subjects. Statistics from the 2024 matric class show only 189 out of 727,000 candidates passed using this bare minimum, representing just 0.03% of the cohort.
Maimane, however, contends the issue is being misdiagnosed. He argues that the true problem is revealed when benchmarking against higher standards. He noted that while 67% of 2024 matriculants passed mathematics, that figure plummets to 30% if the pass mark is raised to 50%.
“The majority of our students who get a national senior certificate are only being prepared for unemployment,” Maimane stated, drawing comparisons to G20 nations where he said assessment is typically benchmarked at 50%.
“Why are we setting the standards low?” he asked, using an analogy of lowering Olympic qualifying times to accommodate unprepared athletes. “Lowering standards is not the solution here.”
When challenged that nearly 48% of last year’s candidates achieved a Bachelor’s pass—meeting university entrance requirements—and that raising the bar could retain hundreds of thousands of learners in an already strained system, Maimane insisted the current model is flawed.
He pointed to over 8 million young South Africans not in employment, education, or training (NEET), and cited a 9% throughput rate at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as evidence that the low school pass mark does not lead to success.
“The point is keeping the standards low does not cure the very problem you are describing,” he said.
When repeatedly pressed on the fate of learners who would fail under a stricter regime, Maimane argued that progressively raising the threshold to 50% would force systemic improvements.
“If you progressively move it up… you are going to force your education system to ensure that young people and more young people pass,” he said, suggesting that schools that achieve 100% pass rates already set internal benchmarks at 60%.
The motion also calls for broader curriculum and assessment reforms. Maimane expressed hope that a parliamentary resolution would pressure the Minister of Basic Education to “take that into account.”