New Grade 12 woes for troubled school

ONLY 65 of the 140 pupils from the controversial Klipspruit West Secondary School who sat for their matric exams passed.

Of the 46% pupils at the Soweto school who passed, only 13 have qualified for enrolment at university.

At least 30 pupils received diploma admissions, which can get them into any university of technology or a college, while 12 can only apply for enrolment at a technical and vocational education and training institution.

At least 77 pupils from the class of 2017 will have to repeat Grade 12 this year or write supplementary exams.

The pass rate of 46% means that the school’s Grade 12 pass rate has significantly dropped from its 2015 and 2016 results, which were 50% and 60% respectively. The result is also far short of the 80% target set by the district office.

Teachers at the Eldorado Park school and some members of the community attributed the disastrous results to violent protests at the school over the selection of a black principal last year.

For about two weeks in September the institution degenerated into chaos and teaching had to stop for a couple of days after the mainly coloured community protested and demanded the removal of the black principal, who was hired in July.

There were still issues when the school reopened, with some black teachers refusing to go to work, saying they feared for their safety. Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi dissolved the school governing body (SGB).

This was followed by a visit by the Cape Times’ sister paper, The Star, which revealed that racial tensions at the school were so deep that black teachers had no access to equipment and other teaching resources.

The Star also witnessed pupils loitering, gambling and using drugs on the school premises.

Lesufi then sent all the matrics to a camp to study and announced that he was considering changing the school’s leadership, teachers and its ethos entirely this year.

A Grade 11 teacher said the school’s pass rate would continue to drop unless Lesufi took further drastic steps such as changing its leadership, preventing the community from getting involved in the hiring of staff and securing the safety of black teachers.

“All the problems at the school clearly had a psychological effect on the Grade 12 learners. I don’t blame them for performing poorly. It was bound to happen because the environment was not conducive. Even the camp was not going to help because they were already behind with their school work,” said the teacher.

Former deputy chairperson of the now dissolved SGB, Henry Charles, blamed black teachers, accusing them of triggering the chaos.

“It is the black teachers’ fault and they failed the school. Lesufi also admitted that the school had become dysfunctional because of the tension. Black teachers stood in solidarity with each other even when some of them were calling coloured learners names. It’s going to be chaos here even when the school reopens,” said Charles.