Ladies and gentlemen
At the occasion of the announcement of the 2013 Grade 12 results, I pronounced that every effort will be made by the department to improve the results qualitatively and ensuring that there will be no school that would perform below 60% in the 2014 Grade 12 examinations.
Out of the 539 secondary schools, 25 obtained a 100% pass rate, 109
schools obtained between 99.9% to 90%, 120 obtained between 89.9%
to 80%, 96 performed between 79.9% to 70% and 94 schools which obtained results below 60% pass mark. The later are regarded dysfunctional in our own terms.
The department further made a commitment to support all schools, including those classified as dysfunctional in order to improve teaching and learning practices.
It gives me pleasure to announce that there are winter classes scheduled for all schools which performed below 60%.These classes will start on 30 June and will continue until 10 July 2014 in 58 centres.
Bohlabela District will have more centres compared to the other three Districts. This District has improved its results from 28.2% in 2009 to 72% in 2013 making it one of the most improving Districts in the country however its performance is still below the rest of the districts within the Province.
The number of centres will be divided as follows:
- Bohlabela District which obtained 72% in 2013, will have 19 centres,
- Ehlanzeni District which obtained 82.8%, will have 08 centres,
- Gert Sibande District which obtained 76.4%, will have 16 centres and
- Nkangala District which obtained 77.5% will have 15 centres.
The targeted subjects are Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, Physical Science, Life Sciences, Economics, Accounting, Business Studies, History, Geography, Agricultural Science and English First Additional Language.
Educators and Centre managers have already been appointed and will be remunerated in accordance to the policy framework that governs such activities.
Learners from the identified schools are all encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity, since it is made available to improve their performance.
Every effort was made to ensure that the centres are closer to where learners are staying; however, should there be a need to provide scholar transport to specific areas, the Department will take that into consideration.
School Nutrition provision will be made available to needy areas in an endeavour to ensure that learners benefit fully from these classes.
The department will also organise Spring classes in the same way which will take place from 06 October and will continue until 10 October 2014.
An amount of R5.3 million has been set aside for the success of these classes.
What is encouraging is that schools which obtained results above 60% have not rested but are also working around the clock to sustain their positive performance. I wish to take this opportunity to request them to continue in that trend for it is in the best interest of our learners. It is our wish that they need to continue to schedule morning and weekend classes.
Dial -a -Tutor
The Dial a Tutor programme has proved to be adding value on our quest to make education exciting and to provide direct support to learners.
This programme provides learners an opportunity to contact a tutor in the event that they experience challenges with the subject content while studying at home.
This is done by dialling 087 805 1350 between 18H00 to 20H00 from Mondays to Thursdays to be linked with an expert in a particular field of study.
This service will be operational from 21 July 2014 to 28 November 2014.
I wish to encourage all learners to take advantage of this opportunity as well.
Tweet -a -Tutor
Last year at the occasion of the delivery of the Policy and Budget Speech I indicated that the Department is conceptualising a “Tweet- A - Tutor Model” of a programme to assist learners with difficulties in Mathematics and the Sciences in a way that they will be able to directly interact with subject specialist via cell phone graphics and texting.
Hence forth the programme will be known as the Text- a -Tutor Programme.
The Text - a -Tutor Programme is created so that it is easily accessible and user friendly for all students as it caters for most cell phone models and does not require one to have access to a Smartphone.
The concept is about to be finalised and will be operational from the 21 July 2014.
The department has procured laptops for its curriculum Implementers who will be part of this project.
Learners will have an option to dial or send a message to the curriculum implementers who will in turn respond in the same manner.
This will only happen while learners are studying at home meaning that there won’t be any need for learners to bring their cell phones in schools.
Training will be conducted with the Curriculum Implementers who will be involved in this programme before 21 July 2014.
Radio Lessons
It is encouraging to note that the SABC is still committed to rendering weekly radio lessons. This has made a huge impact on the improvement of learner results. We are really grateful towards the SABC because they are offering this service at no extra cost to the department.
In addition, the Department has commissioned 10 Community Radio Stations to present radio lessons from Mondays to Thursdays, 15H00 to 15H30. These will start on 21 July will continue until 28 November 2014.
On Mondays, the radio lessons will feature Mathematics, Physical Science will be offered on Tuesdays. They will alternate the other subjects on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Parents are requested to encourage their children to tune in and to benefit from these support programmes.
Previous years Question Papers
Question Papers from previous years can be downloaded from the departmental website; www.mpumalanga.gov.za/education. These are very helpful when learners are preparing themselves for the examinations.
Date of the Final Examinations
The 2014 Grade 12 examination will start on 27 October 2014 with the writing of English Home Language and First English Additional Languages Paper 1 and will continue to 28 November 2014 with the writing of Nautical Science Paper 2 and Dance Studies.
This means that there are only 126 days, including holidays and weekends, remaining before the commencement of this important examination.
It also means that there is no longer time to waste for learners, as these calls for greater focus, commitment and dedication.
Parental Support
I take this opportunity to request all parents and leaders of influential community structures to support our schools and our learners in particular.
It is our wish that nothing must disrupt the teaching and learning practice from now onwards.
Teachers too, require support from our communities and I request that they be accorded the very support they deserve.
Target for 2014
When I announced the 2013 grade 12 results on 07 January 2014; I indicated that our target for 2014 is 10% improvement. At that time the results were at 77.6% which was a short fall of 2.4% from our target for 2013.
Following the announcement of the 2013 supplementary examinations results, the marked improvement moved from 77.6% to 80.1% which meant that the 10% target for 2013 was met.
This demonstrates the capacity that our province has and for this reason I still maintain that target.
This means that when the results for 2014 are announced in January 2015, the province should be at 87.6%
The support programmes mentioned above will complement the work done by our teachers and are expected to yield the positive outcomes.
From this week onwards, we will be engaging all our stakeholders, officials, principals, and teachers, learner formations in an effort to show our support and to proactively address constraints that need some attention.
We are serious about this because we do not think that our expectations are insurmountable.
I request our communities to help in creating a conducive teaching and learning environment for the province to achieve its set target. This is more significant because it is the only remedy to alleviate poverty, joblessness and inequality.
My view is that we would have given South Africa the best 20th Birth Day gift by achieving an 87.6% pass rate.
Ngiyabonga.
