Date: 03/01/2003
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: Dlamini: Assessment of KwaZulu-Natal matric results
ASSESSING OUR SENIOR CERTIFICATE RESULTS AND CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD, BY PROF CRM DLAMINI, SC, CEO KZN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE, 3 January 2003
Our recent Senior Certificate results in the Province are a cause for celebration. But they also pose a challenge. We are indeed excited about them. They must have been a product of hard work and dedication on the part of the learners the educators and the Principals of schools. We would like to congratulate all of them heartily on this achievement. But we should also ensure that the results keep on improving. This means we have to consolidate those strategies we have used in the past and use them more effectively. We also should be more imaginative and innovative.
To obtain a percentage pass of 70 is no mean achievement especially for a province as big as ours. The greatest part on Province is rural. This has a number of implications. One of them is that we have to work harder than other provinces to cover the whole province.
The results are a demonstration that we take our vision of being the leading department of education in the country quite seriously. Although we are the biggest department of education in the country, we do not believe this is incompatible with being the best.
That is why we are doing everything possible to improve our performance. We are not just concerned with quantity but also with quality. Our mission is the provision of high quality education, which will ensure that our learners make a difference wherever they go. It may be to University, Technikon to the work situation or even when there is no work.
Notwithstanding the improved pass rate we are not complacent about quality. We would like to have more matriculation endorsements than the 18% we obtained. This means we must work both harder and smarter. To produce good results we cannot simply concentrate on grade twelve but we must also emphasise good teaching in the whole of each school.
By obtaining an overall pass of 70.8% we believe we have crossed the Rubicon. There is no turning back on this. We need to move forward. There is no room for complacency.
There are a number of challenges we need to overcome in order to improve our performance. One of them is that we are the biggest department of education in the country. The number of learners who sat the senior certificate examination is 97489. The total number of candidates who passed is 68973. To achieve this requires a lot of effort and energy.
Considering the size and nature of our Province that is the great achievement. The effort that has to go into the improvement of the pass rate is quite considerable. If we compare our province with others, our performance in real terms is more than what we obtained.
We are nonetheless not daunted by the task. We are not discouraged by the vast rural nature of our province. Many of the schools, which are in the rural areas, are performing quite well and producing good results.
Another factor which influences our results is the fact that many of our black learners are learning through the medium of a second language in which many of them are not proficient. English is the language of instruction and it is a difficult language. It has a vast vocabulary and it is a complex language. To master it requires a lot of effort and practice.
We need to improve the proficiency of our learners and educators in English. We cannot even make pretence of improving quality without improving proficiency in English. We need to upgrade the teaching and learning of English in most of our black schools. That will undoubtedly improve our results.
There is no doubt that those learners who learn through mother tongue are in an advantageous position. Those who learn through the medium of a second language have to double their effort. They must read widely and they must constantly practice speaking English. For many black learners this is not easy because many of them do not come from a reading public and at home they do not speak English.
Another factor which influences our performance is that in some schools there are inadequate facilities. There may be no laboratories or libraries. It is absolutely essential that this be attended to and that the disparities be eliminated. The major problem is that our budget for capital projects is limited. Every school should have basic facilities including administration offices, ablution facilities and electricity.
We are indeed grateful to some parts of the private sector, which have assisted the department I providing extra classrooms and other facilities. They demonstrate the need for public-private partnerships and that education is so important that it cannot be left in the hands of government alone. The private sector has an important role to play.
While we do not want to minimise the importance of facilities, we cannot wait until we have adequate facilities before we improve our performance. What is important is commitment and dedication. It is not the policy of the department that learners should learn sitting under trees. But for a committed educator, even under a tree can be a classroom and good results can be produced. This is the spirit we want to encourage.
There is no doubt that the post-provisioning norm (PPN) has had an impact on the quality of teaching and learning. Many of the educators, unions and principals have complained about this.
We would like to express our sympathy and understanding with all concerned. We are operating under extreme financial constraints. Our department is the least funded of all departments of education in the country. And yet we have an obligation to produce good results.
We need to communicate effectively in this regard. There should be no classroom without an educator. Our PPN should also take into account the element of specialization. There should be no school without a properly qualified teacher for mathematics, physical science and commercial subjects. Our PPN should not be applied rigidly and disregard these.
In certain areas we still need to work hard to resuscitate the culture of teaching and learning. Educators in particular need to know that for learners to succeed somebody must be willing to sacrifice. This does not mean they should disregard their right, but there must be effective teaching and learning.
At those schools where there is less than 50% pass we need to take drastic steps. We need to find out what the reasons for poor performance are and take remedial action. No school is exempted from good performance and producing good results.
Although we are jubilant about the results in general, we cannot ignore disaster areas. Schools, which have obtained less than a 10% pass rate, are disaster schools and need to be investigated. I should personally visit the regions and have meetings with principals and SEMs so that we can come up with and effective strategy. Every school needs to know that we mean business with the education of our children.
This means that although we are excited about the improved results we are not resting on our laurels. We need to consolidate our efforts to obtain even better results.
Another challenge we are facing as a department is that a number of our educators are taking ill and we have to provide substitutes for the indisposed educators. This has a negative effect not only on our teaching but also on our finances. We have to pay two salaries for the same job. Obviously this has a negative impact on our results.
Some of the schools operate in areas, which have been ravaged by violence. There is fear and lack of safety and security in those areas. Promoting effective teaching and learning in those areas is no mean task. We have to do a lot to promote peace and stability in those areas.
Some of the learners have been affected by the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. They have lost their parents and providers and they have to fend for themselves. They also have inadequate nutrition and even money for clothing let alone for school fees.
Poverty and want is still endemic in many of the areas of the province. This affects the quality of teaching and learning. As a department we have to bring a message of hope to these young people. We also have to give them hope that when they finish schooling they will be able to find jobs.
This, however, is not something that is peculiar to our province. But as the biggest department the impact is even greater. We need effective ways of dealing with these challenges.
In spite of all the challenges we are prepared to continue our fight for better results in the province. Not only are we concerned about better results but also we are also interested in ensuring that the product we produce is a learner who is knowledgeable, articulate, confident, and able to think critically, creatively and independently.
Our mission of being the leading department of education in the country does not mean we are competing with other provinces. It simply means that we want to do our best under the circumstances. Being serious about improving our results means that we have to start working hard from day one. It also means that we should have learner support materials available on day one so that attention should be paid to effective teaching and learning.
We owe this to the province; we owe this to the country; and we owe this to ourselves.
Contact: Mandla Msibi @ (035) 874 3423, 083 461
Issued by KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: Dlamini: Assessment of KwaZulu-Natal matric results
ASSESSING OUR SENIOR CERTIFICATE RESULTS AND CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD, BY PROF CRM DLAMINI, SC, CEO KZN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE, 3 January 2003
Our recent Senior Certificate results in the Province are a cause for celebration. But they also pose a challenge. We are indeed excited about them. They must have been a product of hard work and dedication on the part of the learners the educators and the Principals of schools. We would like to congratulate all of them heartily on this achievement. But we should also ensure that the results keep on improving. This means we have to consolidate those strategies we have used in the past and use them more effectively. We also should be more imaginative and innovative.
To obtain a percentage pass of 70 is no mean achievement especially for a province as big as ours. The greatest part on Province is rural. This has a number of implications. One of them is that we have to work harder than other provinces to cover the whole province.
The results are a demonstration that we take our vision of being the leading department of education in the country quite seriously. Although we are the biggest department of education in the country, we do not believe this is incompatible with being the best.
That is why we are doing everything possible to improve our performance. We are not just concerned with quantity but also with quality. Our mission is the provision of high quality education, which will ensure that our learners make a difference wherever they go. It may be to University, Technikon to the work situation or even when there is no work.
Notwithstanding the improved pass rate we are not complacent about quality. We would like to have more matriculation endorsements than the 18% we obtained. This means we must work both harder and smarter. To produce good results we cannot simply concentrate on grade twelve but we must also emphasise good teaching in the whole of each school.
By obtaining an overall pass of 70.8% we believe we have crossed the Rubicon. There is no turning back on this. We need to move forward. There is no room for complacency.
There are a number of challenges we need to overcome in order to improve our performance. One of them is that we are the biggest department of education in the country. The number of learners who sat the senior certificate examination is 97489. The total number of candidates who passed is 68973. To achieve this requires a lot of effort and energy.
Considering the size and nature of our Province that is the great achievement. The effort that has to go into the improvement of the pass rate is quite considerable. If we compare our province with others, our performance in real terms is more than what we obtained.
We are nonetheless not daunted by the task. We are not discouraged by the vast rural nature of our province. Many of the schools, which are in the rural areas, are performing quite well and producing good results.
Another factor which influences our results is the fact that many of our black learners are learning through the medium of a second language in which many of them are not proficient. English is the language of instruction and it is a difficult language. It has a vast vocabulary and it is a complex language. To master it requires a lot of effort and practice.
We need to improve the proficiency of our learners and educators in English. We cannot even make pretence of improving quality without improving proficiency in English. We need to upgrade the teaching and learning of English in most of our black schools. That will undoubtedly improve our results.
There is no doubt that those learners who learn through mother tongue are in an advantageous position. Those who learn through the medium of a second language have to double their effort. They must read widely and they must constantly practice speaking English. For many black learners this is not easy because many of them do not come from a reading public and at home they do not speak English.
Another factor which influences our performance is that in some schools there are inadequate facilities. There may be no laboratories or libraries. It is absolutely essential that this be attended to and that the disparities be eliminated. The major problem is that our budget for capital projects is limited. Every school should have basic facilities including administration offices, ablution facilities and electricity.
We are indeed grateful to some parts of the private sector, which have assisted the department I providing extra classrooms and other facilities. They demonstrate the need for public-private partnerships and that education is so important that it cannot be left in the hands of government alone. The private sector has an important role to play.
While we do not want to minimise the importance of facilities, we cannot wait until we have adequate facilities before we improve our performance. What is important is commitment and dedication. It is not the policy of the department that learners should learn sitting under trees. But for a committed educator, even under a tree can be a classroom and good results can be produced. This is the spirit we want to encourage.
There is no doubt that the post-provisioning norm (PPN) has had an impact on the quality of teaching and learning. Many of the educators, unions and principals have complained about this.
We would like to express our sympathy and understanding with all concerned. We are operating under extreme financial constraints. Our department is the least funded of all departments of education in the country. And yet we have an obligation to produce good results.
We need to communicate effectively in this regard. There should be no classroom without an educator. Our PPN should also take into account the element of specialization. There should be no school without a properly qualified teacher for mathematics, physical science and commercial subjects. Our PPN should not be applied rigidly and disregard these.
In certain areas we still need to work hard to resuscitate the culture of teaching and learning. Educators in particular need to know that for learners to succeed somebody must be willing to sacrifice. This does not mean they should disregard their right, but there must be effective teaching and learning.
At those schools where there is less than 50% pass we need to take drastic steps. We need to find out what the reasons for poor performance are and take remedial action. No school is exempted from good performance and producing good results.
Although we are jubilant about the results in general, we cannot ignore disaster areas. Schools, which have obtained less than a 10% pass rate, are disaster schools and need to be investigated. I should personally visit the regions and have meetings with principals and SEMs so that we can come up with and effective strategy. Every school needs to know that we mean business with the education of our children.
This means that although we are excited about the improved results we are not resting on our laurels. We need to consolidate our efforts to obtain even better results.
Another challenge we are facing as a department is that a number of our educators are taking ill and we have to provide substitutes for the indisposed educators. This has a negative effect not only on our teaching but also on our finances. We have to pay two salaries for the same job. Obviously this has a negative impact on our results.
Some of the schools operate in areas, which have been ravaged by violence. There is fear and lack of safety and security in those areas. Promoting effective teaching and learning in those areas is no mean task. We have to do a lot to promote peace and stability in those areas.
Some of the learners have been affected by the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. They have lost their parents and providers and they have to fend for themselves. They also have inadequate nutrition and even money for clothing let alone for school fees.
Poverty and want is still endemic in many of the areas of the province. This affects the quality of teaching and learning. As a department we have to bring a message of hope to these young people. We also have to give them hope that when they finish schooling they will be able to find jobs.
This, however, is not something that is peculiar to our province. But as the biggest department the impact is even greater. We need effective ways of dealing with these challenges.
In spite of all the challenges we are prepared to continue our fight for better results in the province. Not only are we concerned about better results but also we are also interested in ensuring that the product we produce is a learner who is knowledgeable, articulate, confident, and able to think critically, creatively and independently.
Our mission of being the leading department of education in the country does not mean we are competing with other provinces. It simply means that we want to do our best under the circumstances. Being serious about improving our results means that we have to start working hard from day one. It also means that we should have learner support materials available on day one so that attention should be paid to effective teaching and learning.
We owe this to the province; we owe this to the country; and we owe this to ourselves.
Contact: Mandla Msibi @ (035) 874 3423, 083 461
Issued by KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture
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