The IFP has resolved that the pass rate should be increased to 50% and that life orientation should be scrapped from the school curriculum.
The organisation, which held its national policy conference in Empangeni, northern KwaZulu-Natal this week, said the move will improve the quality of education.
The two-day conference, which concluded on Wednesday, brought together more than 500 delegates from across the country.
It deliberated on various policy propositions that the IFP will sell to voters ahead of the general elections in 2024.
“We should align our school curriculum with what is happening in the higher education sector,” said Dr Andile Biyela, who formed part of the education commission at the conference.
“Universities do not consider life orientation when considering points for various courses. Instead, entrepreneurship should be a compulsory subject.
He said inculcating entrepreneurship from a young age will enable pupils who cannot progress to tertiary institutions to find ways to make a living by forming their small businesses.
Quantity over quality
Biyela also pointed out that under the current status quo, the obsession had always been about producing quantity and bragging about the pass rate instead of the quality of pupils being produced by the schooling system.
“It should not be about trying to outshine everyone, that we are a province with the biggest pass rate. It should be about quality,” he said.
The policy review will be rationalized by the party’s national council, the highest decision-making body between conferences which is expected to converge in January.
In his concluding remarks, party president Velenkosini Hlabisa said the IFP has been on a growth path, becoming home to many South Africans who see it as their political home.
“Having made the right strategic decisions and having put in the work, the IFP secured the level of growth and strength. 2024 will surely deliver a good result for the IFP,” he said.
KwaZulu-Natal is one of the provinces that the IFP expects to gain a bigger share of the votes, with prospects of snatching the province through a coalition.
The party will for the first time go to the elections without its founder, president-emeritus Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who passed away in September.
