Province ‘too poor to compete’ with others

WHILE a number of Nelson Mandela Bay matric pupils are anticipating positive individual results, they do not believe the Eastern Cape can climb out of its rut of poor performance.

After 12 years of schooling, tens of thousands of Eastern Cape matrics will wait with bated breath today, as the final few hours pass before they discover whether or not their final year has been a success.

Molly Blackburn High School matriculant Sinethemba Koko, 19, said: “It all comes down to this. All of the years of work will be on show in the newspaper.

“I think myself and my classmates have done well – we worked hard throughout the year and it will show in our results.”

Gelvandale High School matriculant Donovan Koen, 18, said the province was too poor to compete with the rest of the country.

“We don’t have all the benefits some schools in the other provinces have.

“I went to a good school and I am sure we will have good results, but there are a lot of other schools that are struggling,” he said.

However, some Bay principals remained optimistic for both the district and the province leading up to the release of the matric results.

Loyiso High School principal Lulama Hopa said: “I definitely think we as a district will improve.

And we could even move up a position in the provincial rankings because of the type of support we received from the department last year.

“We received material, extra tuition and a lot more support last year and it had a big impact on teaching and learning.”

Paterson High School principal Dr Sivan Pillay said: “As a district, we have performed fairly consistently over the last few years. And I believe the results will illustrate that.”