The long-awaited matric results have finally been made public. As usual the whole country was focussing on the best performing provinces: Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The long-awaited matric results have finally been made public. As usual the whole country was focussing on the best performing provinces: Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The question that comes to mind is why do schools in the above-mentioned provinces perform so well compared to the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and others?
An ignorant mind might assume that pupils in the worst performing provinces do not care about studying, forgetting that there are many aspects that contribute to school performance.
It is no secret that the majority of school-going children in our province come from poverty stricken homes. The fact is that a hungry child cannot concentrate in class. The argument that the School Nutrition Programme is available to most children lacks foundation as usually the food that is made available to our learners is hardly nutritious.
Numerous schools built out of mud still prevail in our province and their presence is disheartening. We have had these for years, yet it is not understood why the department is still struggling to do away with mud structures. How can the government and the public in general expect children who study under these inhumane conditions to pass with flying colours?
Education MEC Mahlubandile Qwase told us that the department would monitor the worst performing schools’ progress. The plan might work to some degree, but the fact is that poverty, a lack of proper school materials and unacceptable school buildings are the main problems that the department should focus on.
As expected, private schools and former Model C schools performed fairly well. Public schools in townships and rural areas as usual did not do so well.
The Eastern Cape’s pass rate improved by only 1% this time around and thus we are rated number eight in the country, putting us in second last position nationally.
The Grahamstown district, which used to be one of the best performing districts in the province, shocked us when the results plummeted by 9.4%. We are hoping that the department will take the necessary steps to ensure that at least by 2014 the envisaged 96% pass rate is achieved without much further ado.
