Matric results disappoint

2007-12-28 20:23

Johannesburg - Political parties and civil organisations on Friday expressed disappointment in the country's 2007 matric results, with the Democratic Alliance calling for the government to urgently attend to pupils who failed.

"Government must... commit itself to focusing on those learners who were unsuccessful in their attempt to complete the matric exam. They may not be left behind," DA Education spokesperson George Boinamo said in statement on Friday.

The two worst performing provinces, Eastern Cape and Limpopo, with pass rates of 57.1% and 58% respectively had to be targeted by the national department, he said.

Education Minister Naledi Pandor said while she was confident this year wage negotiation process would not result in another teacher strike, she declined to give any guarantees.

"I'm not a worker - but I would like to see a positive outcome in the current wage negotiation process," she said.

Reconstruction

Pandor said it would be unfair to blame the decline in pass rate on the strike, as factors such as lack of co-ordination and the quality of teaching were also at play.

The African National Congress said it was disappointed to learn that the matric pass rate dropped again to 65.2% from 66.5% in 2006, particularly given that education was at the centre of the party's development agenda.

"The ANC has identified education and training as a critically important area on which we must concentrate as part of the process of the reconstruction and development of our country," party spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said in a statement.

He said it was important for government to come up with measures that would ensure that more pupils achieved satisfactory results.

"Our primary response must be to assert that we will continue to give emphasis to the implementation of effective strategies that will support increased success at all levels of schooling," said Ngonyama.

The AfriForum said the poor matric results were proof that pupils were struggling to cope with languages other than their mother tongue.

Mother tongue teaching

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said the mother tongue language should be preferred for as long as possible, even to a postgraduate level, as it gave an advantage to the student, especially when it came to the more "difficult subjects" such as mathematics and natural sciences.

"Without it, a career in a growing number of fields is no longer possible. Once the theories have been grasped, students have no problem switching to English," he said.

The SA Democratic Teacher's Union (Sadtu) said the recent public service strike had an impact on the decline in matric pass rate.

However, the union denied it was to be blamed for the disruption caused by the strike.

"In relation to the public service strike this year, any negative effect on the matric results must be placed at the door of the employer whose heavy handed tactics resulted in the massive strike of 2007," said Sadtu secretary general Thulas Nxesi.

- SAPA