The Gauteng Department of Education today announced plans to improve the learner support systems. This as the province experienced a five percent drop in the matric pass rate for the class of 2009.
The matric results for Gauteng declined from 76.4 percent in 2008 to 71.8 percent in 2009.
Speaking during the announcement of the results at Jeppe High School for Girls in Johannesburg on Thursday Gauteng MEC, Barbara Creecy, who described the “overall performance in the province as sobering,” said that more will be done to improve the pass rate in 2010.
“We are disenchanted, but not down for the count. We go into the next round with renewed vigour and better equipped than before to tackle the issues which produced these results. We will be making a number of interventions to achieve better performance this year,” said Creecy.
The department is to conduct an analysis to identify subjects, schools and districts for targeted intervention. Plans are already in place to extend Saturday school and holiday classes programmes to learners in underperforming schools.
“We will also pay attention to the conduct of learners, educators and school governing bodies. All of us are in agreement that we cannot afford to lose a single day of schooling due to absenteeism, work stoppages and community protests as this eventually has an impact on learner preparedness for examinations.,” said Creecy.
The MEC said the department’s dedication in providing special support in areas such as Merafong proved crucial.
“We have seen this dedication with Merafong where in some instances no learning and teaching took place for more than two years and we were concerned that this will reflect poorly in their performance. I am proud to announce this support has far exceeded our expectation. The Gauteng West District, which includes Merafong, is the top performing district in the province with a pass rate of almost 80 percent,” said Creecy.
The Tshwane South District once again featured strongly in the top public schools category; by walking away with nine spots. Independent schools are said to form a large percentage of schools that achieved under 25 percent.
Among the top performers for the class of 2009 is Jessica Hill of Jeppe High School for girls with 10 distinctions while Fana Ndebele of Phefeni Secondary School got five distinctions with a 100 percent pass in mathematics.
And although there was a drop in the matric pass rate, the province sustained the university entrance pass rate of 29.3 percent.
Creecy reported that of the 109 000 candidates who sat for examinations, 59 cases of serious irregularities were recorded and that disciplinary cases were already underway.
She urged learners that did not pass matric or have underperformed to register for supplementary examinations or enroll in Further Education and Training colleges to pursue studies in scarce skills required by the economy.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
7 December 2010
Source: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gautengonline.gov.za/)
