KwaZulu-Natal Acting Premier, Willies Mchunu has expressed concerns at the matric performance of rural schools in the province. Mchunu was speaking after his visit to various schools in the Zululand district as part of government’s programme to monitor the first day of schooling every year.
He was accompanied by members of the legislature and various role players in the education fraternity. Mchunu’s visit was to assess progress and attitudes of both learners and teachers to address non-performing schools.
First on the itinerary was Sqophumlando High School, which saw a significant decline in grade 12 results in the last past year. In 2010 the school obtained a 27.78% pass rate. The year 2011 saw a significant improvement when the school obtained 100%. 2012 saw a huge decline to a 9.52% pass rate.
The recent performance of this school prompted the first day visit. Bongiwe Memela who has been the school principal since 2009 cited challenges that led to the school’s dismal results in 2012.
“There are various factors that contributed to us not performing up to the required standard. Some of the major reasons were that we do not have a staff retention policy to keep the teachers for longer periods of time, which means that there is no continuity in learning from grade 10 to grade 12,” said Memela.
Mchunu then addressed the audience and expressed how deeply he was touched by the performance by this school.
“This is an unfortunate situation that needs attention. We take this as a serious matter that needs an urgent response. I will take this report to Premier Mkhize and discuss a turnaround strategy for this school to help it improve this year. I can see the children are eager to learn, they just need resources to excel,” said Mchunu.
Mchunu then made his way to Emadressini Primary School and was impressed with the first day.
Enquiries:
Kwanele Ncalane
Cell: 072 803 1462
