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The Democratic Alliance welcomes Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga’s promise to hold principals accountable if their schools fail to achieve more than a 40% matric pass rate. We will hold her to that promise.

The Minister says that, if she finds principals to be the primary cause for a school’s poor performance due to weak leadership or management, then those principals will be demoted. This ‘tough love’ measure is necessary to ensure that all of our students receive a high-quality education.

The DA has already pioneered the development of performance agreements between principals and the provincial education department in the Western Cape. This creates a commitment between both parties to make sure that each remains accountable to the learners whose futures they shape.

Principals must take ownership of the outcomes their students achieve. If students perform well, principals should be rewarded. If the students fail, principals need to be held accountable.

The Minister is also right to focus on these poor performing schools with an eye for lifting them up. The DA-run Western Cape Education Department has done this and saw the number of schools achieving less than 60% matric pass rates fall from 83 in 2010 to 33 in 2011. It goes some way toward explaining why the Western Cape achieved the highest pass rate in the country.