Dear Portfolio Committee on Basic Education,

I am a Professor of Mathematics Education and I just want to make a contribution to the debates on the perennial problem of poor performance in mathematics and science in this country. I argue that we shall remain with this problem for as long as we ignore the recommendation made by the 2013 MST Task Committee - we need gifted/talented learners in dedicated schools. The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, where we have children that are particularly gifted, it would be criminal not to want to develop their potential to the highest possible extent. From a Capability Approach theory, whether someone can convert a set of means/resources into a functioning or achievement crucially depends on certain conversion factors. The factors converge into 2 broad categories (a) those coming within the person (personal characteristics) and (b) those coming from outside of the person (social arrangements). South Africa is doing very well in terms of providing the social arrangements i.e. teachers, textbooks, laptops etc. Yes both teachers and material resources matter, but unfortunately research has persistently shown that having more natural potential implies that given the same educational inputs or material resources, a higher level of skill or achievement is likely to be realised. Consistent with this logic, there are certain learners who would not succeed in mathematics even if they tried and had the appropriate external resources but did not have the natural potential for the subject. Therefore it does no good to design a program in response to the national need to develop more innovators in STEM that involves samples of students unlikely to earn a qualification or skill in that field. A complex society depends on the contributions of individuals specialising along different lines and equipped for carrying out different specialised tasks. Hence the country should not be content with a system of universal education that provides identical treatment for all pupils. The introduction of the Dinaledi Schools Program now referred to as MST schools is a commendable and visionary idea but so far the idea has failed because we were not courageous enough to select learners with potential as was envisaged in 2001. If we continue to ignore the innate abilities of the learners who go into those schools we will continue to fail to achieve all the targets set in the National Strategy for Mathematics, Science & Technology Education. Studies have shown that gifted education programs address these challenges given that when a system identifies learners with potential, set high targets for them, this in turn enhances teaching and learning even in the mainstream classrooms. Singapore is a typical example where this is happening. To continue to view gifted education as being elitist is in fact the biggest mistake we will ever make as a country.