Modise shocked teachers cannot speak English

NATIONAL Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairwoman Thandi Modise has expressed shock at teachers in some parts of the Eastern Cape who cannot speak to pupils in English.

Modise, who said this could affect the matric pass rate, spoke up on Friday during an NCOP sitting in East London after her delegation visited various schools in the Buffalo City Metro.

A few weeks ago, the same delegation, which was divided into six groups, visited schools in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality.

Modise said their visit to Alfred Nzo was prompted by the district receiving the lowest matric pass rate in the province last year.

Their visit to urban and rural Buffalo City Metro schools last week was part of the NCOP’s annual Taking Parliament to the People programme.

During their sitting on Friday, where President Jacob Zuma gave a keynote address, Modise urged the president to intervene in the challenge of teachers who could not speak or teach in English.

She told Zuma her teams inspected classrooms, libraries, laboratories, playgrounds, toilets and hostels.

“Honourable president, we have also met up with various teachers who are unable to construct a sentence or converse with their own learners in English,” she said.

“That gives us a problem because in matric most subjects are written in English, and if a teacher cannot impact that material in English, that means levels of acceptance and recognition of material and passing of a subject is the major issue.

“We want to say to you Mr President that refresher subjects and courses for such teachers becomes very important.”

The NCOP also raised concerns about how food from the school nutrition programme was stored and prepared at schools.

Delivering his address, Zuma said the government was doing its best to improve schools.