Johnathan Paoli
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi criticized the province’s failure to achieve a complete 90% matric pass rate, and said he will withhold Gauteng Education and Youth Development MEC Matome Chiloane’ s performance bonus.
The premier was talking at the release of Gauteng’s class of 2023 results at the Microsoft Corporate Office in Bryanston, Johannesburg on Friday and confirmed that the performance agreement with Chiloane was that the province should achieve a 90% pass rate.
But Gauteng’s class of 2023 achieved a pass rate of 85,4%, a 0,95% and improvement compared to the class of 2022’s 84,4%. But still short of the 90% that would have seen Chiloane get a bonus.
The class of 2023 candidates comprised 132,570 full-time and 59,094 part-time candidates, with full-time candidates including 7,197 candidates, who progressed from Grade 11 in 2022 to Grade 12 in 2023, comparable to the 9,125 progressed candidates, who sat for exams in 2022.
Lesufi said directors of education districts that performed above 90% will be rewarded with performance bonuses.
He also urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill into law and said that teachers should be better paid and taken care of for their contribution in education.
He also called for tax exemptions for public school teachers and a retention incentive while highlighting that private schools were poaching the best teachers by giving them higher salaries.
MEC Chiloane praised the pass rate and said that the province achieved the highest number of candidates qualifying for Bachelor studies since 1996, and the second highest in the country, with 56 554 who qualified for the pass.
Chiloane said there was also an increase in the percentage of candidates, who passed at the Higher Certificate level – these are mainly progressed learners.
The MEC pointed out, however, that there were four districts that had a slight decline due to the impact of the pandemic on learning.
The schools awarded by the MEC included Afrikaanse Hoer Meisieskool, Hoërskool Menlopark, Hoërskool Garsfontein, Hoërskool Waterkloof, Parktown High School for Girls, and Hoërskool Randburg.
Chiloane applauded schools located within townships, specifically Mohaladitoe Secondary School in Sedibeng West for turning around the performance of the school from 56,6% to 93,8%, an exceptional improvement of just more than 37,2%.
“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% points. In 2023, the gap declined to 9,7%, compared to 8,3% in 2022,” Chiloane said.
Township schools achieved a pass rate of 82,3% compared to 80,7% in 2022 and non-township schools achieved 92% compared to 89% in 2022.
Then 42,5% of progressed learners passed, compared to 45,5% of the progressed learners that wrote in 2022. This is a massive decline when compared to 2022. And 7,4% of these learners who passed, achieved a bachelor pass and almost 16,3% achieved a diploma pass.
He said 297 schools in 2023 achieved above 95%, compared to 290 in 2022, while in 2023, 143 schools achieved 100% compared to 149 in 2022.
“It must also be noted that just over 94,1% [of] Gauteng schools performed above the nationally defined benchmark for school under-performance of 65% compared to 92,6% in 2021,” the MEC said.
Chiloane said that authorities are expected to attend to schools that consistently perform below par, as the results indicated that 34 public and independent schools achieved less than 65%, compared to 53 public and independent schools in 2022.
The MEC confirmed that in the next few days, the department would meet with the school management teams of all public schools that performed below 65% and to hold them accountable for their poor performance.
INSIDE EDUCATION
