“2013 matric results the best since democracy” — Education MEC

Gauteng matriculants have achieved their best results since the birth of democracy, since education has been made available to all and since the province was established twenty years ago, says Gauteng Education MEC Barbara Creecy following the release of the 2013 matric exam results.

Besides the pass rate of 87 per cent for 2013 – up from 83,9 per cent a year ago – the detailed results underline the increasing quality and consistency of the teaching and learning in schools in the province.

The 2013 results show that:

• Gauteng achieved 17,42 per cent more bachelor passes than a year ago, which means that 38 104 pupils have earned the right to apply for further education, up by 5 655 on a year ago

• At the same time, the province has produced an increase in diploma passes of 10,82 per cent

• All in all, 85 122 Gauteng pupils passed matric in 2013, up by 9 888 pupils or 13,14 per cent compared to 2012

“These figures indicate that we not only have managed to keep pace as the numbers of pupils have grown with the expanding numbers of residents in Gauteng,” said Education MEC Barbara Creecy, “but that in fact we have set the pace when it comes to empowering children from the African majority by continually improving their access to the quality education that can open doors to jobs and further qualifications.”

This is borne out by the figures for education districts covering Gauteng’s inner cities, townships, and informal settlements.

Since the last election in 2009, pass rates have risen in:

• Johannesburg Central (covering Soweto and Eldorado Park) from 65,4 per cent to 84,7 per cent

• Sedibeng West from 56,9 per cent to 82,9 per cent

• Sedibeng East, the best performing district in the country up from 78,4 per cent to 90 per cent

• Gauteng East (covering many of the big Ekurhuleni townships, including Etwatwa, Daveyton, Tsakane, and KwaThema) from 65,8 per cent to 87,5 per cent

• Johannesburg South (covering Lenasia, Orange Farm, Finetown and Ennerdale) from 69,1 per cent to 84,6 per cent

• Tshwane West (covering Winterveld, Mabopane and Garankuwe) from 77,4 per cent to 86,4 per cent

“Particularly pleasing is the fact that all 15 education districts in Gauteng achieved a matric pass rate above 82 per cent for the first time,” said Creecy.

“Significantly, we have made important strides in closing the gap between schools serving poor communities and those with a strong middle class component, as shown by the narrowing gap in the performance by fee paying and no fee schools.”

In 2009, no fee schools achieved an average pass rate of 60,1 per cent, with fee paying schools at 84,2 per cent, making for a gap of 24,1 per cent. In 2013, the gap has been narrowed to 9,3 per cent while both school types achieved better results, with no fee schools achieving a pass rate of 81,4 per cent and fee paying schools 90,7 per cent.

The detail of the 2013 results show that education’s upward trajectory of the last years in Gauteng continues and that the improvements remain sustainable even while the GDE responds to a growing pupil population.

In terms particularly of those subjects most closely followed by business and the professions, Gauteng is very pleased that, as the province at the heart of the South African economy, the 2013 results include:

• a 5 per cent improvement in the number of maths distinctions to 2 177

• an increase over 2012 from one to four pupils from township schools achieving a 100 per cent pass rate in maths and science

• a rise in the maths pass rate by 3,68 per cent to 74 per cent meaning not only that more pupils passed maths, but that they did so at a higher level of competence

• a rise in the physical science pass rate by 8,57 per cent to 76 per cent

• a rise in the life science pass rate of two per cent

• a rise in the economics pass rate by 7,9 per cent to 82 per cent

• an increase in the number of distinctions by 814 or 2,3 per cent to 35 903

“There is a further aspect of the results that is perhaps even more pleasing because they show that the centre is not only holding in Gauteng, it is expanding,” said MEC Creecy.

“These are the indicators that more than any others tell us that the efforts being made by teachers, school heads, and district and head office officials are paying dividends in the form of an ever growing number of children from working class and poor backgrounds, most of them African, who are getting a good education.”

For many in township priority schools, this positive difference has been achieved under the umbrella of the Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) Secondary School Improvement Programme (SSIP).

The SSIP programme targeted 60 000 Grade 12 pupils in 384 priority schools in 2013.

“SSIP is symbolic of the Gauteng Department of Education’s determination to lift the quality of education in schools and to see improved levels of achievement, particularly in those schools that have struggled to consistently achieve the benchmarks we have set for the province,” Creecy said in a media statement on 9 March 2013.

“Our strategy in 2013 again focused on continuously improving teaching and learning in all targeted schools, including monitoring late coming and educator absence, assessment practices, accounting sessions with school management teams, setting of and compliance with targets, provision of learning and teaching resources, data management and record keeping, as well as leadership and governance,” said Creecy.

“It involves meetings with parents to encourage them to ensure their children make use of these additional possibilities, and a number of other interventions.”

The SSIP programme allowed for extra classes by expert teachers on Saturdays and during school holidays, as well as the final matric revision camps in October.

“The strong results by SSIP schools in 2013 show that the system is improving teaching and learning inside the prioritised schools themselves,” she said.

No fewer than 365 of the 384 schools in the 2013 SSIP programme achieved a pass rate of above 60 per cent. Of the 365 schools, 137 achieved a pass rate above 80 per cent while 80 achieved a pass rate above 90 per cent.

Since 2009 the number of public schools participating in the SSIP programme that achieved a pass rate below 60 per cent has declined from 188 to just 19 in 2013.

“It is particularly pleasing that the SSIP programme not only once again has proven its value, but that it has done so with improved results, which show that more township children than ever are benefiting from the efforts all involved in the SSIP have put into the programme,” Creecy said.

“We as the GDE have been determined to do everything within our power not only to get these priority schools to the point where they can educate African children as they should, but more importantly, to ensure that these schools remain consistent as full members of the education system in Gauteng.”

The matric pass rate has risen in Gauteng between 2009 and 2013 from 71 per cent to 87 per cent. This represents a 22 per cent improvement since the last election.

“More importantly, our improved results represent a promise made to the people of Gauteng at the last election and a promise kept that this government would do everything within its power not only to improve education, but to do so consistently and for all of the province’s children,” said Creecy.

Thanking the thousands of parents from across the province who have served on school governing bodies or given their time to maintain schools or coach pupils in sports and academic subjects, Creecy also praised teachers’ and workers organisations for contributing significantly to charting a route that consistently has seen consensus building as the preferred alternative to conflict.

“Whether with parents or unions, together we have proven that ongoing consultation and consensus building does more for the pupils – who are our reason for existing – than any battle or any court conflict can,” said Creecy.

MEC Creecy said the GDE knew that many of those who had not achieved the results they had hoped for had given the matric exams their very best effort, and that there is no shame in what has transpired. Disappointed pupils must know that they are not alone.

Before doing anything else, they should find out from their schools exactly what their results are to consider writing a supplementary exam, taking all their exams again at the end of this year, or other options that may be open to them.

Pupils who are feeling despondent should go to their religious or community leaders, talk to their parents or someone else they trust, or phone Lifeline on 0861 322 322.

“We dedicate these results to the memory of our late President, Tata Nelson Mandela,” said Creecy.

“He was the greatest South African champion of education for all, and we remember that he taught us that opening education to all is central to our liberation as individuals and as a nation, when he said that there can be no contentment for any of us when there are children … who do not receive an education that provides them with dignity and honour, and allows them to live their lives to the full.”