Mathematical Literacy must be scrapped in schools

Former Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said she opposed the creation of Mathematical Literacy because it incentivises students to abandon pure mathematics.

She shared her views on South Africa’s education system and Mathematics Literacy during an interview with the African Renaissance Podcast.

Pandor is a prominent South African ANC politician who served as South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation from 2019 to 2024.

She has held high-ranking cabinet portfolios over a 30-year parliamentary career, including Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Training.

She also serves as the Chancellor of Nelson Mandela University and is the chair of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Pandor is therefore an influential voice in the South African education sector and in the African National Congress (ANC).

She said that during her tenure as Education Minister, the quality of the examination papers was excellent. That means those who passed matric were top-notch.

“This is what we should aim to achieve. However, it makes little sense to have a large number of students failing, so we should have explored other options,” she said.

Despite the need to raise the pass rate, Pandor did not like or support Mathematical Literacy because she foresaw it would be a disaster.

“Nevertheless, I allowed departmental officials to persuade me. What I suspected would happen did occur,” she said.

She explained that a large number of students opted out of pure mathematics in favour of Mathematical Literacy.

“This has significantly reduced our overall numbers in core mathematics. Over time, we have begun to recover,” she said.

Pandor believes that this is an issue we must address. “There are some students who may not pursue pure mathematics,” she said.

“However, they could pass a Mathematics A or Mathematics B option, whatever you might call it. We need to rethink our approach.”

“Mathematical Literacy is important, but not as a primary track. It should be something where all children gain basic numerical competence, such as calculating change.”

Mathematics Literacy under siege

Pandor’s view aligns with that of Dr Mamokgethi Phakeng, a former professor of mathematics education, who said that it should be done away with in schools.

Phakeng said that Mathematical Literacy was well-intentioned but is not serving the purpose for which it was designed.

South Africa previously had Higher Grade and Standard Grade Mathematics. This distinction has fallen away.

Under the new system, there are Mathematics Core and Mathematical Literacy. Students have to pick between the two.

She said weaker students used to move from Higher Grade to Standard Grade Mathematics. They are now pushed to much easier Mathematical Literacy.

“I think Mathematical Literacy should be done away with,” she said, adding that it does not help students to enter courses in university.

“Even if you achieve a distinction in Maths Lit, students do not get any points for that in the university scoring system,” she explained.

She explained that schools incentivise learners to move from Mathematics to Mathematical Literacy because it increases the school’s average performance.

“The school’s average looks good, but the Department of Basic Education does not look at why the performance is good,” she said.

“Even when they count the number of distinctions for a school, they do not exclude Mathematical Literacy.”

She argued that if Mathematical Literacy had never been introduced, it would not have created a problem of learners moving away from Mathematics.

Instead of moving children away from Mathematics when they struggle with it, schools should encourage them to spend more time on the subject to improve.

She advocated for changing the incentive structures for schools to reward them for achieving good Mathematics results.