If you leave the standards high then 90% of kids will fail and remain in the system until they are 90. If you lower the pass rate then a large proportion of kids pass through the system with some education. The ones who want to better themselves will do so through supplementary and tertiary education. The aim is to increase the level of education over time (that includes parents)
The first thing that the Ain't No Consequences party did was to get rid of teacher's colleges. How can you teach without education? Since 1994 the pass rate and standards in govt schools have been lowered to such an extent that some matric students are almost illiterate. Standards are dropped to ensure high matric pass rates every year.

This may make teachers look good but is devastating for students wanting to go to tertiary education with a 30% pass rate. The reason for the high drop out rate at university and wasted funding. Employers are thus reluctant to employ the unemployable youth and would rather look for someone with experience.

This must be devastating to a young person who have wasted his time at school with a rubbish education. I know a maths teacher who has offered a bursary to the top 2 students in his class. They declined as they reckoned that they would not be able to get a job anyhow.

If standards are kept at an acceptable level, the ones that pass can get ahead and the ones that don't can be assisted with additional classes. Maybe we should concentrate more on technical abilities and not so much on academics. In Europe some countries split the curriculum after a certain level to allow kids the choice between academics and tech.

I don't have all the answers, but it is time to develop a coherent Education and Training Plan for RSA that can actually add value to our economic growth. The unemployed youth could gainfully be used in fast tracking the upskilling of our labour force and so doing drive the recovery of our economy. Let’s get back to basics and start educating the unemployed in our country…rather than dishing out the tax payers money without any reward.