When the 2025 matric results were released, the headlines told a familiar story: South African learners continue to struggle with mathematics.
The mathematics pass rate dropped to 64%, down from 69.1% in 2024, despite a record 88% overall national pass rate.
Only 34% of the 901,790 candidates took mathematics and maths distinctions fell sharply. Some learners who did well in earlier grades find themselves failing it a few years later, frustrated and demoralised.
The media and policymakers often frame this as a question of engagement: if only maths were made more interesting, relevant or fun, the thinking goes, more learners would succeed.
This is also the prevailing intuition in classrooms, teacher training and public discourse alike: interest must come first.
The interest-first approach is rooted in a philosophy of autonomy. Children should not be forced; they should choose. Learning should be enjoyable, not coercive.
In principle, it is a humane and appealing idea, but relying on interest alone carries risk. Interest is fragile. It often depends on home environment, parental support, access to resources and prior exposure.
For learners already at a disadvantage, waiting for curiosity or enjoyment to emerge can mean never developing essential skills. And for a subject like mathematics — an entry ticket to science, technology, engineering and finance — “never” is a luxury the country cannot afford.
In many East Asian systems, for instance, the sequence of putting interest first is reversed. Learners practise first. They develop competence through repetition and structured effort.
Interest follows as confidence and mastery grow. Motivation theory supports this: people tend to enjoy what they are good at.
Competence breeds engagement, not the other way around. Mastery requires long stretches of practice, repetition and sometimes sheer boredom. The key is disciplined effort, especially when the task is difficult, essential or unavoidable.
Importantly, this alternative logic is not just theoretical — it has begun to shape real programmes, both in SA and internationally. In SA, the basic education department’s Teaching Mathematics for Understanding initiative (since 2016) is one example.
Rather than focusing solely on engagement or enjoyment, it prioritises deep understanding and structured competence.
Leaving maths learning to chance — or to whether a child ‘feels interested’ — risks locking an entire generation into inequality and limited opportunity.
— Prof Ke Yu
Participating schools receive lesson support that emphasises conceptual clarity and procedural fluency — exactly the building blocks too often missing in classrooms.
Early reports suggest statistically significant gains in learners’ foundational skills and greater confidence among teachers in delivering structured practice.
There is also the Mental Starters Assessment Project (since 2022) that aims to ensure learners in early grades solidify number sense and basic operations before progressing.
Beyond SA, programmes based on mastery-orientated frameworks offer further instructive contrasts. The PR1ME Mathematics Teaching Programme, developed in collaboration with the Singapore ministry of education, implemented globally, with significant adoption in the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico, emphasises depth over breadth: learners do not move on until they have truly understood a concept.
These examples are not panaceas, nor are they wholesale blueprints for SA. But they do demonstrate something important: approaches that centre competence before interest can yield measurable improvements in learning outcomes.
The consequences of weak numeracy extend far beyond failing a school subject. With foundational numeracy weak, learners struggle to access higher-order thinking and problem-solving.
This is not merely a question of “fun” or engagement — it is about equity and opportunity. Leaving foundational skills to chance reproduces disadvantage rather than alleviating it.
Research shows that adults with poor foundational maths skills face higher unemployment, lower wages and reduced ability to participate fully in a modern economy. They are less able to manage personal finances, understand contracts or engage with technology-driven workplaces.
At a national level, weak numeracy also easily translates into weaker economic growth, lower productivity, and skills bottlenecks in science, engineering, and finance sectors.
For a country already grappling with youth unemployment exceeding 40%, the stakes could hardly be higher. Leaving maths learning to chance — or to whether a child “feels interested” — risks locking an entire generation into inequality and limited opportunity.
This is not a call to abandon joy or curiosity in classrooms. Context, creativity, and engagement matter. But for critical skills like mathematics, competence must come first.
Interest can enhance learning, but it cannot be the gatekeeper. Structured practice, high expectations and normalising effort — even when enthusiasm is absent — are essential.
If SA is serious about educational equity and skills for the future, we must shift the conversation. The goal is not merely to make learning enjoyable. The goal is to ensure that every child can say, with confidence, ‘I can do this’. Only then does interest — and sustained engagement — follow naturally.
- Prof Yu is a research associate in education leadership and management at the University of Johannesburg.
