Fewer than 4% of South African children who start grade 1 leave school with strong enough maths skills to pursue a maths or science degree. This alarming statistic underlines the fact that poor maths results limit career opportunities, widen skills gaps in the workplace, reinforce inequality, and hinder national development.
The impact of Numeric’s early maths education programme
There is hope, however – a recent longitudinal study proves that nonprofit organisation Numeric’s early maths interventions are making a significant difference.
Numeric has been conducting after-school programmes for grade 6 and 7 learners in low-income areas in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, and Gauteng since 2012.
Ros Clayton, a researcher at the Research on Socioeconomic Policy (RESEP) at the University of Stellenbosch, used a combination of a 2013 randomised control trial (RCT) and a larger pooled sample of learners from 2014-2018 to evaluate the impact of Numeric’s programme on academic milestones such as pass rates, Bachelor’s pass rates, subject selection, and drop-out rates.
Key findings: a game-changer for learners
The findings indicate that Numeric learners were:
- 33% more likely to pass matric
- 233% more likely to achieve 60% or higher in mathematics
- 59% more likely to take maths as a matric subject
- 40% were more likely to achieve a Bachelor’s pass
Reducing drop-out rates and boosting confidence
For every 100 learners who attend Numeric, an additional 12 stay in school, 13 pass matric, and 9 choose maths as a matric subject.
Numeric’s programmes does more than just improve maths skills – it builds self-confidence and perseverance in learners who might otherwise feel their goals are unachievable. Previous research has shown that students who perform well in maths tend to develop greater academic confidence, fuelling their drive to succeed in other subjects.
Numeric learners also performed better in mathematical literacy, physical science, accounting, and English first additional language – key subjects for future study and careers.
How companies can get involved
Companies investing in maths and science education can explore opportunities to scale Numeric’s programmes. There is the potential for collaboration with the Department of Basic Education to expand efforts, through summer schools or targeted interventions for retained learners, according to Clayton.
“Many learners who repeat grades don’t receive any additional support, and a programme like Numeric could make a huge difference,” she notes.
Her research indicates that solving South Africa’s maths crisis must start in primary school. Numeric’s after-school classes provide 100 additional hours of maths instruction in grade 7, giving learners a crucial advantage. Waiting until high school level is too late – learners find it difficult to catch up, indicating that early intervention is key to long-term success. By supporting Numeric and similar initiatives, stakeholders can play a pivotal role in transforming education in South Africa. Investing in early maths education is especially critical as it can produce more skilled graduates, close opportunity gaps, and improve outcomes for South Africa as a whole.
