How to future-proof our children?
Unpacking AI careers for the future is an imperative...
Jansie Niehaus
Besides unconditional love and having their basic needs met, what do the next generations of children really need? Is it a tablet and connectivity – how important are those really? How should they be prepared for the job market and for playing an active role in the economy? How does artificial intelligence (AI) complicate their future? Do they need matric? Do they need maths in matric? And what does it all mean?
Matric results 2025 – the good, the bad and the ugly
First let’s contemplate the National Senior Certificate (NSC) ‘matric’ results released in January 2026. Almost a million South African children completed 12 years of schooling in December. Where will they go and what will they do? Every year, amidst the jubilation at yet another high pass rate, South Africa (SA) stares the reality in the face of ever more young people returning home in despair, not able to find employment or opportunities for study.
The good:
It is right to celebrate the incredibly high pass rate of 88%. The schools, teachers and thousands of children who passed did work hard to make this possible. The NSTF congratulates the Class of 2025! The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is also to be commended, pulling off the feat that is the matric exam processes successfully and country-wide. It’s also good that children are now streaming through the education system at a realistic pace. Although there is scepticism about what a matric pass actually means – how much learners know, and are able to do, nevertheless, the evidence is that young people with matric have a better chance at the available (limited) opportunities than their peers without matric.
The bad
Enrolment for mathematics (maths) and physical science continue to decline. The declining pass rate for maths is particularly concerning.
Dismally low numbers of learners have access to technical subjects, such as Computer Aided Technology (CAT), and engineering technology, although it’s commendable that the DBE offer these at all.
The learners’ subject knowledge is inadequate when they pass a subject with only 30%. There have been many criticisms and much noise about this low requirement, which calls into question what it actually means to pass matric.
Everyone who matriculated with a “Bachelor’s pass” expects to go to university. As usual, the universities are currently inundated with applications. Yet only about 3% of those who apply can be accepted – there just isn’t enough space in our universities. 1
The ugly
Exam leaks: Around 40 candidates in seven schools in the Pretoria area gained access to the exam papers before taking the exams. The seven exam papers with their marking rubrics were leaked, in three subjects: mathematics, physical science and English. The leak was traced to the DBE offices, and employees have been suspended.
Although this will inevitably happen because of unscrupulous individuals from time to time, and the Minister assured the public that it was swiftly detected and dealt with, it’s expected to become increasingly difficult to prevent and detect.
The still unknown effect of the ubiquitous presence of AI. The Citizen newspaper said, “The NITT [National Investigation Task Team, formed to investigate the exam leaks] further cautioned that evolving technologies, including AI-enabled tools, can be used to disguise misconduct, reinforcing the need to modernise prevention, detection and invigilation controls.”
It is still unknown what the effect will be of children using AI to summarise and interpret their learning materials. Are markers able to gauge whether learners have memorised AI-generated text, and is it acceptable that they do so?
On mathematics
Former Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Town (UCT), and one-time Director of the NSTF NPC, Dr Mamokgethi Phakeng, put SA’s dilemma eloquently into words in the Mail & Guardian article published in the 23-29 January edition. She says, “celebrating an 88% pass rate risks confusing administrative success with educational success.”
Phakeng argues that “Mathematics is isolated in its underperformance”, citing the latest national maths pass rate of 64%, down from 69%, and pointing out that maths is the only gateway subject to have a pass rate under 70%. Yet, being a ‘gateway’, a failure in maths could mean that an otherwise good matriculant fails to obtain a coveted place at university, given the cut-throat competition for places in SA universities.
Worse than the pass rate, is the declining proportion of matriculants that write maths at all. Only about 254 000 learners wrote the 2025 NSC maths exam, out of the record number of more than 900 000 matrics. Although the absolute number increased, the percentage of learners writing maths has declined. This was also mentioned by the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube in her speech when she announced the matric results.
Then there is the much-criticized fact of the pass requirement of only 30%. While 64% of the Class of 2025 ‘passed’ maths, only about 25% passed with more than a 50% mark. Phakeng says the 30% pass mark “certifies exposure rather than capability”.
According to a Saturday Star article, listed here below: of a sample of five universities, there are a total of 1.2 million applications, but only about 35 000 places in total, which is about 3%. These universities include the top 2, and four that are in the top 10.
She says that we are “intellectually disarming” our children by denying them mathematical skills and ways of thinking. “A country that does not teach its children to think mathematically cannot sustain a modern economy.”
Having studied and worked in maths education a bit myself, I concur with Dr Phakeng. Having seen unemployed graduates queuing up for job or internship interviews and having heard the complaints from colleagues in Higher Education, there is no doubt in my mind that SA can do better.
South Africa has hidden talents
Among that minority of learners who pass maths satisfactorily, there are many who achieve 90% and above. This is important to note, because, such extraordinary learners who excel against the odds should be seen, recognised and celebrated; and (2) they are an indication that if given the chance, many more learners would pass maths convincingly, than is currently the case.
The NSTF Brilliants programme has been recognising top performers in matric maths and physical science for 25 years. Every year, we identify more than 18 first year students hailing from all nine provinces who achieved 90% and more in these two gateway subjects, to reward and celebrate them. There are many more than 18 of them every year, unknown and invisible.
One would think that they come from independent schools, or well-resourced quintile 5 schools? But no, the majority of them come from quintile 1-3 schools, and only about 25% from quintile 5. The majority of this very gifted little group every year are Black. Note that the selection is only done according to performance in the matric exams and their choice to study STEM-related courses (including engineering and medicine) at university. (STEM = science, technology, engineering and mathematics.)
It is a success story that the DBE should acknowledge and boast about, as we all should. The Minister celebrates the overall pass rate and those of the provinces, and then selects individual top performers, including only one in maths and one in science, to showcase to the nation when the matric pass rate is revealed. Every year, the 100-odd actual stars of maths and science across the nation are basically ignored.
Lack of options
At least, the students identified for the Brilliants programme all have places at universities, as do all the top achievers. A bigger problem is the middle of the bell curve, which is simply too gigantic for universities to absorb. If 97% of students with good matric passes are rejected by universities, where do these (quite capable) young people go? The options are extremely limited. Applications for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges close on 30 November, meaning that those who aspired to go to university and were not accepted, have to wait the whole year to start following an alternative career path. Our young people urgently need good options!
What will best prepare the learners of today for their futures?
Minister Gwarube said in her speech at the recent Lekgotla: “…we must recognise that a future-fit education system prepares children not only academically, but holistically. It develops cognitive agility, adaptability, and resilience to complexity. It builds digital fluency, human and transferable skills such as curiosity, imagination, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, perseverance, and self management. It cultivates technical competence and an entrepreneurial mindset.”
This was well-said, and hopefully the Minister and her department will continue working towards achieving this.
Phakeng explains it very well: people benefit from mathematical training, and it’s not for nothing that maths is regarded as a gateway subject. Maths opens doors to many courses of studies and careers, benefitting not only the young people who pursue them, but also the country, as the skills so generated are essential for our population’s well-being and the economy.
The Minister understands the importance of maths and science. In her speech when she announced the matric results, she said, “A healthy system must grow the number of learners taking Mathematics and Physical Science without sacrificing quality. That is why our next phase pairs higher participation with stronger support – better materials, targeted teacher development, and earlier intervention so learners arrive in these subjects ready to succeed.”
See the NSTF Career Booklet for descriptions of about 130 STEM careers. Most of these require a good pass in matric maths, and where it is not required, mathematical thinking skills would benefit those who enter these careers. See also the NSTF/proSET learning platform, the STEMulator.org: where these careers are put into the context of a virtual landscape showing where maths and science can be found in the real world.
In the context of AI, what are the careers for the future?
STEM and research will remain important, as can be seen from the great variety of possible STEM-related careers. AI cannot ‘do’ any of the STEM careers by itself – it requires instruction and programming. Although AI undoubtedly already makes it possible to achieve more with less effort, human thinking has to ask the questions, direct the investigations and make the decisions. This cannot be delegated. The mathematical thinking that Phakeng refers to, remains crucial to the human endeavours of science, engineering, technology (SET) and innovation.
IT literacy, skills, and programming. In the NSTF Careers Booklet, some careers are marked with a ‘4IR’ icon, to indicate which ones are particularly important going forward. Information technology (IT) skills are undoubtedly essential for everyone to have, and the specialised skills, including programming of AI, will continue to be in high demand.
Creativity, and human agency. If robots and computers can perform most of the repetitive, and even complex tasks that humans currently do, the creative arts become more important as a manifestation of what it is to be human. It is ironic that AI is being used to help create art, music, stories, and movies. AI does not need these – we human beings do! The arts are a form of self-expression and communication among people, and become meaningless if machines ‘create’ them, so that the illusion is created that machines and humans can communicate. So, I would argue that the human arts should be supported, and talented young people would do well to pursue those, in spite of the diminishing opportunities currently available.
People need people (ubuntu). Although all kinds of services are expected to be increasingly automated, we have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years as social animals. Human contact and care are always needed. Alongside the efficiency (hopefully) of automated systems, there should always be humans for humans to interact with. This is particularly true for care-provision services – health and medical care, frail and hospice care, emergency services, counselling, grooming and advice services, etc.
Children need people. Teachers of all kinds will never be redundant. Not only are we social beings but have evolved for adult humans to raise children. Children learn from adults from the moment they open their newborn eyes. They pick up on the tiniest nuances of the adults’ actions, sounds and ways of thinking. Facilitating learning at the early stages of schooling, likewise, critically requires human teachers. The whole human being is involved in education: body, mind, emotions and spirit. Getting back to the topic of maths learning: mathematical facts and procedures for calculations can be practiced on computers, but the real mathematical thinking – the critical, creative, analytical and inductive thinking, are best modelled and learnt from, a human mathematician.
As a closing thought
The presence and potential of AI challenge us to consider what it is to be human. It would be wrong to conclude that because AI can calculate, summarise, compose text, produce pictures, enhance text and code, and even write code, that human beings should not learn these skills. I’d argue that it becomes crucially important for us to learn these skills, even more than before.
Always using AI instead of your brain, is like stealing the answers to an exam paper. Although it’s not unethical like stealing, it is depriving yourself of the skills needed to pass an exam. It’s stealing from yourself.
AI can pass the matric maths paper with distinction – that does not mean it’s okay for the vast majority of matrics to be unable to understand the most basic maths. The mastery of skills empowers young people, regardless of what they go on to do with their lives. The more capable they are, the better their chances in future, and the better our chances to preserve our humanity.
The opinions expressed above are those of the Executive Director, Ms Jansie Niehaus, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Committee or members of the NSTF.