Following his visit to Sandringham High School on 15 January to do his oversight work, member of the Gauteng Legislature, Jack Bloom said he was disappointed with the school’s matric pass rate.
The school in the Johannesburg north-eastern suburbs attained a 77 per cent pass rate, down from 89 per cent the previous year.
“I am concerned that the matric pass rate has fallen so much, and is now lower than the 87.2 per cent provincial pass rate,” Bloom said in a statement.
“I will be taking up the plight of the school with the GED [Gauteng Education Department] which needs to intervene urgently with extra resources and management expertise.”
Bloom described the situation at the school as disastrous.
He said he was previously impressed by Phillip du Plessis, the principal, who vastly improved the school in various ways, including a 91 per cent matric pass rate in 2017.
Du Plessis was seriously injured in a car accident in July 2018 and Bloom said he was informed that the principal had been booked off sick and may possibly return in June this year.
“Seetha Naidoo is now the acting principal but it is clear that the school is suffering from the absence of Mr du Plessis who had the dynamism to improve the school.”
This year the school had enrolled 1 100 learners, up from 980 pupils last year, and Bloom said there were only 38 teachers which led to large classes.
“The school struggles to get parents to pay extra fees, so only two extra teachers are employed by the school governing body.”
Another issue the shadow MEC cited as a concern was the school’s infrastructure saying it has deteriorated adding that the computer library had not had Internet since 2018.
Details: Jack Bloom 082 333 4222.
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