By OBAKENG MAJE
North West Premier, Prof Job Mokgoro applauded the ‘Class of 2019’ for exceptional work in the National Senior Certificate Examinations. Mokgoro was a keynote speaker during the results announcement ceremony that was held at Fields College in Rustenburg on Wednesday.
The ceremony was attended by all education sector stakeholders who came to witness the fruits of the seeds planted since the beginning of 2019 academic year. The province has made a significant improvement and reached 86,8% matric pass rate.
“Education knows no social or economic standing. It knows no race, colour, gender, religion or creed. For, we all agree that every child has a right to quality basic education and today is a culmination of our effort towards achieving laying a basis for a bright future for these learners and the country.
“Thank you for putting this beautiful province in the limelight. An overall improvement of the NSC Examination results by 5.7% from 81.1% of 2018 is no mean feat. This despite all the odds stuck against you, you showed character and prevailed,” he said.
Mokgoro also commended MEC for Education, Mmaphefo Matsemela, the entire management, the SGB’s, principals, educators and most important learners for having done extremely well in ensuring that the North West province re-claims the rightful space amongst the best performing provinces in the country.
“You have managed to navigate a very difficult academic year that 2019 was. You also managed to achieve good results despite the challenges that many of our learners faced as a result of disruptions to normal schooling brought about as a result of community protests witnessed in the last year as well as damage to various schools infrastructure,” said Mokgoro.
However, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the North West says the results are not a true reflection as so many learners dropped out before reaching matric. According the North West DA spokesperson on Education, Gavin Edwards said: “Although this is an improvement from 81.1% in 2018, celebrating the top three rankings is misplaced considering the high drop-out rate. From the 62 766 Grade 10 learners that enrolled in 2017, more than 20 000 dropped out before matriculating, leaving the North West with a real pass rate of only 37.1%.
According the North West DA spokesperson on Education, Gavin Edwards said: “Although this is an improvement from 81.1% in 2018, celebrating the top three rankings is misplaced considering the high drop-out rate. From the 62 766 Grade 10 learners that enrolled in 2017, more than 20 000 dropped out before matriculating, leaving the North West with a real pass rate of only 37.1%.
“The drop-out rate, combined with the poor quality of education, is a recipe for disaster. Many of these youth will struggle to find employment and if they do, it will be for menial labour, locking them in a cycle of hardship and poverty.”
Edwards added that the department of education is not doing the learners any favours by setting low standards in basic education simply to pursue improved statistical outputs. He said the conditions that learners are expected to perform under remain extremely poor.
“Ongoing school safety challenges, poor infrastructure, shortage of schools and unrealistic teacher/learner ratios continue to plague this province. We congratulate every matriculant that worked hard in the face of all these hardships and also thank those teachers who walked the extra mile to ensure those learners are equipped for the next phase of their lives.
“We further commend the 2019 matriculants at the 12 high schools around Klerksdorp who were affected by service delivery protests during their final exams. The fact that 9 out of these 12 schools did well is an achievement of note,” said Edwards.
He also singled out the 2019 matric class of Thuto Lore Secondary School in Bloemhof, who had to be moved overnight to safety after the community threatened to disrupt their examinations. Edwards said despite difficult circumstances, learners there still managed to achieve an 80% pass rate, showing true determination
Edwards said despite difficult circumstances, learners there still managed to achieve an 80% pass rate, showing true determination.
Meanwhile, the ANC in the North West welcomed with jubilation the results of the class of 2019 and congratulates all role players for achieving this milestone. The ANC provincial spokesperson, Kenny Morolong said the achievement of 86.7% with a recorded 5% improvement from the 2018 results call for celebrations across the province.
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