Maths as a requirement for accounting could fall away
JOBURG – The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) has expressed its concern at the proposed amendment to revoke mathematics as a requirement for taking accounting as a school subject.
The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (Saipa) has expressed its concern at the proposed amendment to revoke mathematics as a compulsory requirement for taking accounting as a school subject.
The Department of Basic Education published a notice in the Government Gazette on 21 July inviting stakeholders to share their input on the proposal to repeal the offering of accounting with mathematics.
Saipa said in its submission to the ministry of education that maths builds skills in concrete, spatial and logical reasoning, and that maths equips children with tools to defend their worldview and make smart choices. Saipa drew attention to occupations including agriculture, engineering, industry, medicine and navigation, which all require maths directly or indirectly for their development.
“We are living in a world of measurements. We have to measure lengths, areas, volumes and weights. We have to fix timings, prices, wages, rates, percentages, targets and exchanges,” said SAIPA in its submission.
Technical executive at Saipa, Faith Ngwenya, said doing away with maths as a compulsory subject will not solve the problem of South Africa’s appalling maths results. “You can never be an accountant if you do not understand maths,” said Ngwenya.
She said that South Africa already has a shortage of accountants and that making it more difficult to obtain the qualification in the required time will only exacerbate the problem. Ngwenya said that people are already struggling with accounting and emphasised how much more difficult it would be without mathematics.
Parents need to teach their children to manage their own money
Ngwenya believes that a stumbling block to improving maths results is a lack of skilled maths teachers. She suggested that the government identify schools with a shortage of skilled teachers and incentivise those with skills to teach at those schools.
“Rather than eliminating the subject because of bad results, the government should look at the way teachers are remunerated. We need good quality educators,” said Ngwenya.
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