South Africa’s Grade 5 and 9 pupils continue to lag behind in mathematics and science when compared to their international counterparts, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The five lowest-performing countries were Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, South Africa, and Kuwait, said Dr Vijay Reddy, principal investigator of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 Grade 5 study and executive director at the Human Sciences Research Council. https://ee219f0b360f3f0d72aa13d1a0bd9a35.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The top five countries were from East Asia: Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei and Japan, according to the TIMSS 2015 study.

Within South Africa, the Western Cape, Gauteng, and Mpumulanga were the best-performing provinces. The three worst performers were North West, Limpopo, and Eastern Cape.