Gauteng Education MEC Ms Barbara Creecy this morning visited schools to assess the first day of the winter classes for grade 12 learners.
MEC Creecy visited Edward Phatudi Comprehensive and Steve Tshwete Secondary schools in Atteridgeville and Olivenhoutbosch.
The 2012 Secondary School Improvement Programme (SSIP) is now a bigger project than last year, focusing on nearly 300 000 learners in grades 8 to 12. The number of schools has increased from 334 last year to 366 this year. The department has also supplied learning material to 73 independent schools, nearly 4 000 teachers have been provided with training.
"Learner feedback has been very enthusiastic about the impact the project is having. They speak highly of the quality of teaching and the resources and generally see SSIP as making a difference to their mastery of content," MEC Creecy said.
Attendance of the Grade 12 learners has been very satisfactory and has averaged about 75% and we have seen a high level of commitment from our Grade 12 learners. Their determination will have an impact in the exams and their post-school progress.
The department has budgeted R140 million for the project in this financial year. This provides tuition, study resources, catering and transport for grade 12s. Other grades get the same but are not provided with transport.
SSIP offers tuition to nearly 300 000 learners in 366 schools at 127 sites throughout the 15 districts. The Grade 12 programme has been offered over a period of 48 days and consists of 3 components:
- Grade 12: 33 days
- Grade 10 and 11: 8 days
- Grade 8 and 9: 4 days plus Aug school based revision programme.
Teacher training sessions have taken place throughout the year in venues throughout the province. We have distributed lesson plans for tutors and learning materials for learners for each SSIP session and additional study materials for learners to take home. We have also distributed 350 sets of audio visual equipment and DVD sets of tuition materials for all SSIP subjects.
These subjects are Maths, Maths Literacy, Physical Science, Life Science, Accounting, Economics, Business Studies, History, Geography, and English (First Additional Language).
This year, the department ran for the first time a support programme for Grade 8 and 9. The department is heartened by the fact that about 93 000 learners in these grades gave up most of their April holidays to participate. Parents, learners and teachers have given positive feedback and have urged us to make this a regular part of our annual support plan.
"While we recognise that extra tuition is valuable, we know that this alone will not help learners to succeed. Positive attitudes, a positive vision of the future and a personal drive to succeed are critical to achieve success," she said.
MEC Creecy said that while we could not force learners to take advantage of the opportunities available to them, teachers, parents and community members could encourage learners. We also needed learners' determination, ambition and commitment to succeed as individuals and members of the wider community.
For more information contact:
Charles Phahlane
Tel: 011 355 1530
Cell: 071 860 4496
