Ten top achieving maths and science public schools in South Africa have been recognised and each awarded R150 000 in the annual Anglo American Maths and Science Excellence Awards at a function at the Department of Basic Education, 222 Struben Street, Pretoria on Monday, 8 November 2010.
The schools are Dendron Secondary (Limpopo), Durban Girls’ High, Eunice High (Free State), Fairmont High (Durban), Grey College (Free State), Hoërskool Waterkloof (Gauteng), Hudson Park High (Eastern Cape), Parktown High School for Girls (Gauteng), Stellenberg High (Western Cape) and Westville Girls’ High (KwaZulu-Natal).
These schools were selected from 200 identified by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) as having especially strong 2009 maths and science results, with a 60% pass rate for mathematics needed at a minimum. A panel of educational experts from the DBE and the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund whittled these schools down to the 10 awarded (with previous winners excluded from consideration for a minimum of two years). Schools decide for themselves how best to use their winnings for the furtherance of teaching.
Anglo American Executive Director, Godfrey Gomwe, said he hoped the awards would act as a spur to all public schools currently overseeing year-end examinations: “Last year saw only 80 000 maths passes of any sort throughout the matric system from a matric cohort of 550 000 children. That result is particularly disturbing given that there were 1,15 million students enrolled in Grade 10 two years before.”
As part of its broader community educational support going back almost 60 years, the annual Anglo American Maths and Science Excellence Awards were introduced in 2003 “specifically to encourage those school principals and teachers who succeed despite their challenges and above and beyond their peers,” said Gomwe.
The Chairman’s Fund has contributed R5.9 million to these awards since 2004.
DBE Director-General, Bobby Soobrayan said: “Improving maths and science results is a key strategy of our Action Plan to 2014, which aims to improve the basic education sector in our country. We thank Anglo-American for their continued support in this regard.”
For further information, please contact:
Pranill Ramchander
Media Relations
Tel: 011 638 2592
Granville Whittle
Chief Director: Communications
Cell: 072 1489575
Source: Department of Basic Education
