N West breaks 70% barrier

2003-12-30 14:59

Mmabatho - The North West province on Tuesday announced it had broken through the psychological barrier of a 70% matric pass rate.

This was in stark contrast to a 50% pass rate in the province in 1997 and showed, its Premier Pop Molefe said, a commitment to improving education standards in the region.

"The North West Province achieved a 70.5% pass rate which represents an increase of 2.7% from last year - and an improvement of 20.5% over the last seven years," said Molefe.

"The breaking of the psychological barrier of 70% is the best present we could have hoped for as we prepare to celebrate the New Year. The annual upward trend symbolises a decisive blow to the remnants of apartheid education. It confirms that steadily but surely we are winning the battle to create a more equal and a quality education system."

The premier praised a number of different departments and groups for assisting the process, among them Pitso Tolo, the MEC for education, the Education Labour Relations Council and school governing bodies.

"I am proud of our schools, teachers and learners whose excellent performance has defied formidable odds. It is this kind of resilience and passion to succeed, that continues to turn despair into hope and certain failure into success in the new South Africa."

Molefe said the improved results had been partly due to the availability of learning material and to the holding of winter schools for mathematics, physics, biology and English.

He said intervention at "dysfunctional" schools was also reaping good results. He cited the case of Raphulere High School in Rustenburg which could only manage a pass rate of 36.72% in 2001 but had achieved a pass rate of more than 87% this year.

"As we stand on the threshold of a second decade of democracy, we do so confident that we are succeeding in our collective efforts to open the doors of learning and culture to all our people - especially our children," said the premier.

- SAPA