Former FirstRand CEO Sizwe Nxasana has called it a crisis that two thirds of matric learners take mathematical literacy instead of pure maths. He said learners were pushed into the subject to raise the matric pass rate, Moneyweb reported.
Nxasana, who founded the Sifiso Learning Group, gave the opening address at the Actuarial Society of South Africa 2026 Convention. He said there is a strong link between a country’s maths skills and its economic growth.
“The mathematics assessment has actually been watered down,” he said.
He asked actuaries and financial institutions to pressure the government to change the policy. Under it, most high school learners choose mathematical literacy from Grade 10.
Nxasana said this was not the plan when the subject was first introduced. He said a “large number of children have been pushed to mathematics literacy to increase the pass rate”.
He also said the pure maths matric exam has been made simpler and now focuses on rote learning. He said the papers put heavy weight on knowledge and routine steps, with very little on problem solving.
He quoted a Department of Basic Education study of 900 learners who wrote the 2023 matric maths Paper 2. It found that 74% passed questions that tested recall of knowledge.
Only 31% passed questions on complex procedures, and just 16% passed the problem solving questions, according to the study.
Nxasana said this helps explain why some students reach university with maths distinctions but drop out of engineering, accounting or actuarial science by June.
“So even those that are taking mathematics are being failed by the system, because the system is measuring the wrong things,” he said.
He said there are whole school districts in South Africa where every high school only offers mathematical literacy. A single district can have as many as 300 schools.
Nxasana said the subject shuts learners out of the economy. He said African and coloured children are more likely to take it because many of them attend no-fee schools.
He pointed to the Netherlands, where he said 26% of all jobs rely on the mathematical sciences.
He said many learners pick maths literacy in Grade 10 partly because of a weak start in primary school. He blamed this partly on teacher training.
According to Nxasana, Bachelor of Education students spend less than 10% of their time on maths. He said they then carry this into primary school classrooms.
Nxasana owns Future Nations schools, which offer only pure maths. He is working with RMB chief economist Isaah Mhlanga to measure how weak maths skills affect the South African economy.
Mhlanga told Moneyweb that in 2004 he was pressured to take what was then maths standard grade. He said he got extra tutoring instead and kept studying maths.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Moneyweb. Image: Moneyweb. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.