Since the subject ML was introduced in 2006 as a compulsory subject for those pupils who do not enrol for
mathematics in Grades 10-12, many well-known commentators such as Jansen (2011) and Ramphele (Child,
2012) have criticised the subject, because they perceive it to be a simpler form of mathematics. However, ML
was intended for pupils who would otherwise not have engaged with any mathematics applications after Grade
Nine level (Brombacher, 2010; North, 2013). As pointed out by North (2013), before the advent of ML, only
60% of pupils in the FET band chose to study Mathematics, made up of 10% who did Higher Grade
Mathematics, and 50% who chose Standard Grade Mathematics (North, 2013:155). ML is described as follows
in curriculum documents (DBE, 2011:8):