Date: 10/03/2005
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: Pandor: Aggrey Klaaste maths, science & technology educator of the year award

Address by the Minister of Education, Ms Naledi Pandor, MP, at the Aggrey Klaaste maths, science and technology educator of the year award, Midrand

10 March 2005


Mr Thabo Leshilo, Editor of the Sowetan Mr Sizwe Nxasana, Telkom SA Mrs Nkhetheleng Vokwana, Telkom Foundation Professor Mamokgethi Setati, Chairman of the judging panel
Thank you for inviting me to be the patron of the awards.

I knew Aggrey Klaaste and admired his contribution towards journalism and nation building in South Africa.

The aim of this award is to improve the quality of maths and science and technology teaching and there is no more pressing aim in education today.

This award focuses attention on these subjects because there are too few pupils taking them and in particular too few African pupils take them and, worse, too few African pupils do well in maths, science and technology.

If you look at maths senior certificate results over the last five years, or rather the five-year period 1999 to 2003 (and there is only a marginal improvement if you include 2004), you will see that the total number of senior certificate candidates attempting mathematics has never reached the 60% mark, that is, there are more than 40% of all candidates who did not take mathematics (at any level).

The data cannot tell us how many of the more than 40% might have succeeded in passing mathematics had they attempted it.

It is probably safe to say that many of the 40% are casualties of the legacy of apartheid, because we know what the attitude of the previous regime was to teaching maths and science to African pupils.

The number of candidates attempting mathematics at higher grade level over the past five years has never exceeded 10% of total candidates,