Massive 2016 Matric fails fear

Sizakele Netshilaphala, Acting Superintendent General (SG) for the Eastern Cape Department of Education says the province is in a crisis after receiving an average of 44 percent matric pass rate in the June exams this year.

Netshilaphala said this on Wednesday at the Settlers Monument during an interview with Grocott’s Mail after her meeting with school principals from across the province.

She described the situation as a bad one and said the province has opened centres to support matric learners. The team from the province was visiting all its clusters to check if the support centres were functioning well.

The acting SG said their purpose is to assist districts and schools with their countdown of activities towards the final exams.

“You see when they wrote their mid-year exams, our average as a province was at 44 percent and that is a crisis. So we have now opened 123 centres to support them.

“We are going around now and checking if the centres are working and if they are not working, what additional assistance do they need to make sure that they work. We have printed Mind the Gap study guides as well as exam packs for matric learners.

“I want to make sure that all of them have received the packs. If they have not received the packs they must make sure that they collect them. We have issued the study packs only to the schools that got less than 60 percent in June, which is the majority of our schools.

“But as we are going around, the proposal has been that lets give study packs to all other learners. The learners find these study guides very helpful,” said Netshilaphala.

She said that the department was looking at filling educators posts. Netshilaphala said for this year more than 2 000 educators posts have been advertised but not all of them have been filled.

She said what she has been asking districts directors as well as principals why the posts have not been filled.

“The reason I ask that question is because when you advertise a post at the head office, it comes to the district and the district has to make a master list that it will give it to schools, then the Schools Governing Bodies (SGB) must then interview and submit names to the district for appointment.

“So I want to know what is taking so long in that chain? Some of them (district directors and principals) are saying the head office is not appointing but I’m saying to them I've dedicated this function to the district directors to appoint educators.