Pass rate drop in the Qtn district

THE progression of pupils remains a thorny issue which is being blamed for negatively affecting the pass rates in schools and districts in the Eastern Cape.

District director Nkosinathi Godlo, speaking to The Rep in a telephonic interview from East London on Wednesday, said the Queenstown district pass rate had dropped from 58% in 2014 to 55.6% last year. “The progressed learners remain a problem as they are not ready for matric. This has contributed a lot to the drop in the district.”

Other challenges were small schools, mostly found in rural areas, which had 100 or less pupils with two to three teachers and which were not considered to be viable.

He said a small school should at least have 200 pupils. “We also face a challenge of shortage of teachers for critical subjects like maths, science and accounting in the main.”

Other contributors to the drop in results were schools that enrolled big numbers because if they did not perform well, the impact was felt.

“I must commend schools like Girls’ High (with a 100% pass rate) and others, including those that had 80% and 90%. I feel good about those schools. Many schools have done well despite teacher shortages.”

Strategies were needed to assist the progressed pupils and the provincial education department had to provide teachers for schools that experienced shortages.

“One other thing we can do is to merge the small schools with bigger schools where there will be teachers. We could even provide scholar transport for the pupils to those schools. These are the things we need to look into.”