The head of the Western Cape Education Department, Brian Schreuder, confirmed the new national education requirement.

He said there were concerns as learners were passing other subjects but failing mathematics.

“When a learner, specifically those in Grades 7 to 9, has failed mathematics it means they can’t be promoted to another level because mathematics is a compulsory pass subject,” stated the report.

“Mathematics is a huge problem in our society. The quality and the number of passes in mathematics is a challenge,” said Schreuder.

A directive has been issued for those learners who pass “everything but fail mathematics” to be considered for the new pass requirement so they can continue to FETs or Grade 10.

“A decision was taken that the group of learners who fail mathematics must not have less than 20% minimum pass mark to be given an opportunity to do mathematics literacy,” said Schreuder.

The current pass mark for maths is 40%.