Africa-Press – South-Africa. Without wasting any time, the Gauteng Department of Education plans to take steps to address underperformance at schools in the province.
This comes after it was announced that the Class of 2022 in Gauteng achieved a pass rate of 84.47% – a 1.7% improvement from the 2021 rate of 82.8%.
During the announcement, Education MEC Matome Chiloane said the department would continue to demand accountability for the results of non-performing schools.
“As a province, we must also attend [to] schools that consistently perform below par. Underperforming schools must also be resolved as 53 public and independent schools achieved less than 65% compared to 69 public and independent schools in 2021.
“In the next few days, the department will meet with the school management teams of all public schools that performed below 65% and begin a process to address this poor performance. This will include a review of management and teaching personnel. A rapid school evaluation will be undertaken, and an academic improvement plan will be designed and implemented,” he said.
The department has promised to equip schools with fully functional classrooms to ensure effective teaching and learning.
“The purpose is not to fight management, teachers and pupils but to provide the right combination of incentive support and services. The department wants to improve the quality of services in the affected schools across all grades.”
He added: “We will support all matriculants that have failed. We will provide a multi-faceted Second Chance programme in 2023 to assist supplementary examinations, part-time candidates, amended senior certificate candidates and progressed learners who need to complete their National Senior Certificate. We will assist them in the subjects they failed to ensure they complete the requirements for passing. Those that require psycho-social support are also urged to engage their schools or the department.”
All 15 districts in Gauteng performed above 80%, with four among the top 10 performing districts in the country, having achieved pass rates of more than 85% each.
“What is also worth noting is the positive trend of more schools in Gauteng achieving a 100% pass rate. In 2021, 131 schools aced the exams with a 100% pass rate. The figure has risen to 149 schools for the 2022 matric exams. Similarly, more schools achieved a pass rate above 95% in 2022 than in the previous year. In 2022, a total of 290 schools achieved above 95%, compared to 265 in 2021.
“… we are pleased that more township public schools excelled. We congratulate the principals of the 107 township public schools, including nine pupils with special education needs that achieved a pass rate of above 90% for the sterling work done. Only 61 township public schools achieved above 90% last year,” said Chiloane.
Imbali Combined School in Orange Farm achieved a 100% pass rate and a 97% bachelor’s pass rate.
Gauteng produced the highest number of bachelor’s passes nationally.
Of the 113 006 candidates who passed their matric, 58 119 (43.4%) achieved a bachelor’s pass.
Nationally, Gauteng contributed 20.8% of all bachelor’s passes achieved countrywide. It also obtained 43 300 distinctions, the second highest in the country.
In 2009, township schools achieved an average pass rate of 60.1%, with non-township schools achieving 84.2%, making a gap of 24.1%.
“Township schools achieved slightly higher results than 2021, with township schools achieving a pass rate of 80.7% compared to 79.6% in 2021, and non-township schools achieved 89% compared to 89.4% in 2021, a slight decline.
“We are happy that our interventions in our township schools bear fruit. Our Grade 12 pupils in township schools had an opportunity to benefit from teaching and learning through investments that we made in technology in the classroom. This was in addition to the supplementary learning programmes over weekends and school holidays.”
“Our Schools of Specialisation (SOS), which provide skills-based curricula specific to the province’s economic corridors, also made superb strides, with eight of them achieving a pass rate above 90% each.”
Chiloane applauded Kgothalang Secondary School in Bekkersdal.
The school turned around their performance from 41.5% to 87.3% – a staggering improvement of just over 45.8% – and improved the percentage of bachelor’s passes from 21% to 44%.
It is important to remember that this period may not be positive
for everyone who wrote matric exams.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
