The reading for meaning crisis in South Africa has worsened, and analysts believe that if it is not turned around quickly, it could have severe economic repercussions for the country.
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In poor provinces and non-fee paying schools it is common for teachers to have class sizes in excess of forty, even fifty, students. Many teachers are expected to retire in coming years, without sufficient replacement with new teachers.
There needs to be rigorous monitoring of the use by provincial governments and schools of the existing budget should to inform any decision on whether increased funding is the answer to the country's foundation phase reading problem, writes Penny Vinjevold and Marion Mbina-Mthembu.
There was a huge uproar from pupils and teachers after the writing of the paper on November 7 when they discovered that a seven-mark question in trigonometry was “unsolvable”.