No reason for the gloom, says Bhisho official

But teachers aren’t convinced about rosy prediction

By ZINE GEORGE

Education Reporter

EDUCATION experts were predicting last night that the Eastern Cape’s matric class of 2006 is set for gloomy news today.

They believe that, when the matric results are officially released this morning, they will show, at best, a small improvement on last year’s pass of 56,7 percent – or, at worst, the unthinkable, a decline.

This comes on the back of a promise by the province after last year’s terrible results that this year would be different.

However, a senior government official told the Daily Dispatch that despite the gloom in education circles there had been an improvement.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: “What is definite is that there is some improvement. We are steadily improving year-by-year, contrary to what people expect, despite the challenges that we face.”

He refused to give the exact figure, saying it was the “prerogative of the Minister (Naledi Pandor) and the MEC (Mkhangeli Matomela) to give the specific figures”.

His assessment follows three weeks of speculation that the actual figure had dropped by at least a percentage point from last year.

“This information came because the overall results had not been verified and finalised,” he said.

“This has been a long process that has only been finalised in the last few days.”

Education Department spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani could not confirm or deny the increase.

“Unfortunately at this stage I have no preview to any information that pertains to the outcome of the 2006 matric results.

“Just like everybody else throughout the country, we also await with bated breath for those results.”

He said Bhisho had put in a lot of work towards improving the results, through a learner attainment strategy and the Matric Intervention Programme.

“We are hopeful that they will bear fruit, especially to those that did extremely bad last year.”

The Dispatch was told that Education Department head Nomlamli Mahanjana, who has been in close contact with exam regulator Umalusi and Pandor’s office, only gave her political head, MEC Matomela, a briefing yesterday.

Matomela, in turn, briefed other stakeholders, including teachers’ unions about the overall picture.

Union representatives refused to divulge any information, saying the results would be made known to the public today.

“We can’t speculate.” said Douglas Rwentela, National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa provincial chairperson, who was at the meeting.

“All I can say is that one would expect the province to perform better as there was stability in 2006.”

However, he said, the overall problem-free year could be overshadowed by the ongoing problems of the “far from perfect” manner in which the Learner Support Material programme was being managed by the department.

“We’ve had many high schools who received little or no stationery at all.

“There are still schools without teachers for matric subjects.

“This overshadows the political stability that we enjoyed this year. That’s why we expect anything when results are announced.”

Streis Wahl, Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie’s provincial chairperson, was even less optimistic.

“I don’t think this year’s results will be any better than last year’s,” said Wahl.

He attributed the poor performance to the fact that teachers have been called away to so many workshops run by the department during school hours throughout the year.

“We’ve had CAS (continuous assessment) sessions during class time, as well as workshops of the new curriculum during school hours.

“Our children have been left alone, no revision – nothing.

“And now you tell me that results will improve.

“That will never happen unless the department learns to respect school time and arrange training workshops for after hours.”

Mxolisi Dimaza, South African Democratic Teachers’ Union provincial secretary, concurred with points raised by Rwentela and Wahl, although he was optimistic that, despite the challenges, the results would improve.

Dimaza said the February agreement signed between unions and the department, which saw thousands of temporary teachers being absorbed into the system, had boosted the morale of both teachers and pupils.

“I am positive that this (agreement) will yield better results. Teachers were committed, as were the learners,” said Dimaza.

Over the last five years, the pass rate has fluctuated.

Last year’s result was an improvement over 2004 when a measly 53,5 percent of Grade 12s passed.

This year, 75046 full-time candidates sat for the exam.