Programme Directors
The MEC for Education, MEC Panyaza Lesufi and other MECs here present
The HOD of the Department of Education, Mr Boy Ngobeni
Members of School Governing Bodies
Parents
Our principals, teachers and learners
The leadership of teacher unions
Senior officials from government
Members of the media
Ladies and Gentlemen:
As Gauteng we are starting 2015 on a high note! This is so because the Matric Class of 2014 has made us proud. Today is a proud moment for our learners, whose many years of hard work, commitment and dedication to their studies have finally paid off.
While we maintain that there is much room for improvement, as Gauteng we have reasons to celebrate these results!
As MEC Lesufi indicated, although the Class of 2014 performed below that of 2013, our learners still registered a decent 84.7% pass rate.
Given the very high standards we continue to set for ourselves, we would have preferred to improve on last year’s matric pass rate of 87%. In fact we were working towards a 90% pass rate.
Going forward, we pledge to work even harder to secure higher and sustained increases in our Matric pass rates and our learning outcomes.
It is however a matter of pride that; Gauteng has achieved the top national performance.
Once again we are back where we belong: at the top!
Additionally four of the five best performing districts in the country are in Gauteng.
These are Gauteng West with a pass rate of 92,7%, Sedibeng East 90,7%, Ekurhuleni North 88,7% and Johannesburg South with a pass rate of 88,1%.
We take this opportunity to say well done to all the shining starts of the Class of 2014.
You are the pride of our province and our nation!
A bright future beckons for all of you. The onus is now on you, through your continued hard work and dedication, to reach for the skies. On this day a number of our best performers will receive awards as an acknowledgement of their hard work. We trust that these awards will inspire all of you and those that come after you to do even better in your studies.
Allow me to acknowledge especially our overall top performing learner, Lishman Sigourney from Afrikaanse Hoor Meisies Skool; our top achiever in priority schools, Reginald Chamapala from Dr Harry Gwala Secondary School in Etwatwa; our top achiever in technical schools, Bruce Stroh from Hoerskool Hans Moor in Ekurhuleni; our top leaner in schools for learners with special educational needs, Ruan Myburg from the School of Achievement at Ekurhuleni South and our top achiever from independent schools, Ameer Khan from Crawford College in Sandton.
All of these learners achieved seven distinctions each.
A special acknowledgement also goes to our best performing township leaner; Mantsha Polyvia Mathekgane.
We also acknowledge Reitumetse Secondary School, our best performing township school; Bokgone Technical Secondary School, our best performing technical school, Prestasie School of Achievement, our best performing School for learners with special educational needs and Eketsang Secondary School, our best performing Secondary School Improvement Site.
The best performing school in Gauteng was Hoerskool Garsfontein.
Programme Director, this day also belongs to the teachers, the parents, the school governing bodies and the community at large; all of whom have played a significant role in moulding our learners; ensuring that they achieve the level of success they have achieved in their studies.
As the ancient African proverb teaches us; “It takes a village to raise a child.” We also know that when it comes to education, it takes the whole community to make a difference. We are aware that many of you, especially from our township and farm schools, have had to overcome countless obstacles. We know that your road to success has not been an easy one - you have had to beat many odds.
All of this makes today extra special for you. You can take a bow as we today applaud you on your extraordinary achievements. We also take this opportunity to say to those of our learners who have not made it that; this is not the end of the world. Do not despair as yours is a temporary setback.
We wish to remind you that many great achievers in the world today have had to deal with setbacks at one point in their lives. There are a number of options and opportunities available to you to allow you to reach your goals.
We urge you to hold your heads up and look to the future with confidence.
Programme Directors, many in the Class of 2014 were born after the 1994 democratic breakthrough. They are among the first products of our democratic system of education.
The Class of 2014 will also be remembered as those learners who completed their schooling in the year of our twentieth anniversary of freedom and democracy.
Throughout their schooling journey, the Class of 2014, witnessed a number of significant government interventions aimed at improving access and the quality of education as well as the learning outcomes.
Many of them are beneficiaries of our no fee school policy, our free school uniform programme, our school nutrition programme and many other interventions aimed at providing an equal opportunity to every child, regardless of their socio-economic background, to reach their potential.
Currently in Gauteng, 60% of our schools are no-fee schools. We also provide 1 million learners from poor families with meals, scholar transport and uniform.
Many in the Class of 2014 have participated in our internationally acclaimed Secondary School Improvement Programme targeting priority schools. They have also benefited from our interventions aimed at strengthening the teaching and learning of Maths, Science and Technology as part of our ongoing endeavours to develop the kind of skills required by our economy.
The performance of the Class of 2014 is, therefore, a reflection of the progress we are making, step by step, to open the doors of learning and culture to all, as directed by the Freedom Charter.
In particular it is a reflection of the progress we are making, twenty years after freedom and democracy, in pushing back the legacy of apartheid education.
Equally, the performance of the Class of 2014 is a reflection of the challenges that still confront as we advance towards the kind of South Africa envisaged in the National Development Plan; “a country where everyone feels free yet bounded to others, where everyone embraces their full potential, a country where opportunity is not determined by birth but by ability, education and hard work.”
Programme Director, it is in this context that we view the 2014 Matric results.
We are particularly encouraged by the performance of our priority schools; mainly found in township and farm areas and catering largely for the African child.
For 2014, 232 priority schools registered a pass rate of above 78%, compared to 217 in 2013 and 133 in 2012. A total of 105 priority schools achieved a pass rate of above 90%, compared to 80 in 2013 and 40 in 2012.
We are also succeeding in closing the gap in performance between no-fee schools, which serve poor communities and fee paying schools which serve largely privileged communities.
We also note with appreciation that 22 leaners from our priority schools obtained full marks in critical subjects such as Mathematics, Accounting and Physical Science.
Collectively these developments indicate that our pro-poor polices that seek to advance in particular the education of the African Child are bearing fruit.
Indeed these developments point to the progress we are making in laying the building blocks towards a society where opportunity is not determined by birth but by ability, education and hard work.
Programme Directors, as we said during the State of the Province Address last year, education remains the backbone of our programme to effect radical social and economic transformation.
It is our view that through increased access to quality education we will make significant strides in the national effort to eliminate poverty as well as substantially reduce unemployment and inequality.
Going forward, we shall continue to invest energy and resources in ensuring sustained improvements in the Matric pass rate as well as in our learning outcomes in general.
We will continue to pay particular attention in turning around the performance of our non-performing schools including schools in the townships and farming areas.
As part of our vision to modernise the delivery of public services, the next fifteen years shall see greater use of Information and Communications Technology to deliver and expand access to quality education.
Specifically this will entail the building of “classrooms of the future”; that are paperless and allow for technology-enabled provision of education.
We will do this inspired by our vision to build Gauteng as a smart City Region.
We will also do this in order to improve the standard and performance of our entire education system so that we can produce the type of learners who are better prepared for the world of work, in our province, our country and in the world.
The building of “classrooms of the future” will help us narrow the gap between the poor and the rich, and will further provide all learners with equal opportunities to stay longer in meaningful education and to succeed in life.
Our focus will also be on strengthening early childhood development, further supporting teacher training and development, deepening the support provided to school management, increased provision of school infrastructure and maintenance, ensuring better resourcing of schools and strengthening community involvement in the education of our children.
Once more congratulations to the Matric Class of 2014, the teachers, principals, parents and members of the community.
We wish you all the best in your endeavours!
Thank you.
