UMALUSI REPORT STILL NOT GIVING ALL THE ANSWERS

 "The FF Plus has studied the Umalusi report and found that many of the questions which the party had with regards to the anomalies which were experienced on ground level with regards to the 2010 matric results have still not been answered. The report on the surface does not indicate any irregularities on the side of Umalusi, but does not solve some riddles," adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus' parliamentary spokesperson on basic education, said after the party had been given information about certain schools with regards to the determination of marks which appeared to be problematic and which are still not being explained by the report.

The most important issues, which are not being explained by the report, are amongst others the following:

1. On a macro level, the reason why the 2010 matrics had such a high pass rate which does not clearly correlate with the pass rate of the previous year. Umalusi indicated that they do not make any adjustments on a global scale, but only per subject on a national level. How the per subject adjustments together had lead to a higher pass rate was not investigated or explained by Umalusi and remains a puzzle.

2. On a micro level, why certain schools in the same area had indicated a tremendous increase in their pass rate while other schools' rates had remained static or even dropped. This issue has racial lines where "black" schools' pass rate appears to be statistical stars. There could of course be other reasons for the phenomenon, but the report does not explain it.

The report and the media conference of Umalusi did however provide the following insights:

1. The subject English Home Language was upwardly adjusted to compensate for the fact that learners who do not have Afrikaans or English as home language and who attend former model C schools which are Afrikaans, usually take English Home Language as a subject. If English is in reality not the learner's home language, but rather another indigenous language, the learners do not do so well in this subject. This situation however indicates that the department of basic education does not provide enough schools in which mother tongue education is offered.

It is a disgrace that Afrikaans schools are forced by the department of basic education, sometimes with legal steps, to take in learners with other mother tongues and then to teach them in English, which is not even their mother tongue. It is discriminatory toward both Afrikaans speaking children as well as the children who speak other indigenous languages and the department should urgently review its policy on this.

2. Unalusi has indicated that the department of basic education also undertake mark adjustments after Umalusi had completed its process. The adjustments appear to have been made to language subjects. The FF Plus has already submitted a question in Parliament this week in order to determine which subjects were affected by this, what the adjustments in every subject had been and what the basis were for the adjustments. This intervention by the department could explain the higher pass rate for 2010.

3.  Umalusi acknowledged that the department of basic education still has a lot of hard work to increase the standard of South African schools and subjects. The FF Plus agrees with Umalusi about this.

The FF Plus furthermore calls on concerned teachers and principals to study the Umalusi report and to determine for themselves whether the information offers any insights into the various anomalies which they experienced on ground level. The FF plus is furthermore prepared to asked more questions in Parliament to the minister of basic education to address any urgent matters regarding this report.

Statement issued by Adv. Anton Alberts, FF Plus Deputy Parliamentary Spokesperson: Basic Education, February 25 2011

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