held in Johannesburg
7 August 2007
Yesterday, 6 August 2007, the Council of Education Ministers met in
Johannesburg.
The Council noted the increased number of candidates enrolled for the matric
exam this year. This is the last time the matric exam will be written on the
old curriculum and the increase in candidates appears to be an attempt by as
many learners as possible to finish this year so as to avoid having to switch
to the new curriculum next year. Schools register candidates for exams and
provincial education departments are not in a position to regulate the numbers
registered.
The Department of Education confirmed that R4,2 billion had been assigned to
provincial budgets in the 2005/6 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), R2,1
billion in the 2007/8 MTEF [October 2006 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement
(MTBPS)], and R6 billion for the outer two years of the 2007/8 MTEF (2007
budget speech) for improvement in education salaries and increasing the number
of support posts.
Specifically R366 million from the R4,2 billion is earmarked to fund 1 500
new posts in Dinaledi schools, the maths and science focus schools.
The Department of Education has set the 490 Dinaledi schools targets for
maths Higher Grade (HG) passes this year. The overall target is just over 6 000
passes, there were just under 4 000 passes from the Dinaledi schools last
year.
The anticipated 6 000 plus passes are a small but critical contribution to
the anticipated 30 000 passes this year (25 217 in 2006). Those 6 000 passes
will come from schools without a tradition of teaching maths, science and
technology. This is an important expansion of opportunities for children in
poorer communities.
Council of Education Ministers (CEM) was informed of a number of initiatives
to increase the number of Dinaledi candidates passing matric: school
performance rewards, common maths and science exams for Dinaledi schools,
specialised teacher-training programmes, and monitoring by a team of trained
teachers.
CEM emphasised that there is no flat rate for extra teaching under the
school recovery plan. The national stipend determined by the minister varies
according to a teacher's salary. For example, a teacher on salary 7,6 , who
earns R112 470, will earn R62 per hour or R500 per day.
Finally, MECs noted reports on the following: Mittal Steel's proposal to
build ten new schools, the implementation of the school funding norms and
standards for 'No fee schools' in 2008, the implementation of a feasibility
study for e-Education, rewards for top performing schools, the contents of
school libraries, foreign teacher recruitment, revision of the
post-distribution model for the allocation of educator posts to schools, a
management service for principals of schools, and learner transport.
Editors notes:
Currently 632 287 candidates are registered for matric, an increase of 78
208 candidates over last year. The main increases are in the Eastern Cape,
KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng. Many more girls are registered than
boys, 350 741 compared to 281 546. Both maths and science registrations have
increased. There are 58 499 Maths HG candidates, an increase of 10 930 over
last year, and 82 004 Physical Science HG candidates, an increase of 11 717
over last year.
Issued by: Ministry of Education
7 August 2007
