Breakdown of matric results of schools in poorer communities proves certain ‘commentators' are misleading the public

In the last few days there have been many ‘misleading' statements from people, presumably with political interests, claiming that we have neglected our poorer schools and that no support has been given to their learners.

I say ‘misleading' as it would be interesting to know how these ‘commentators' managed to come to such a finding without having the data at their disposal to make such claims.

Can they produce a breakdown of the results per quintile? If so, they would immediately see that the opposite is true.

Since 2009, when the DA came into Government, the results of our poorer schools have improved significantly year on year.

All South African public ordinary schools are categorised into five groups, called quintiles, largely for purposes of the allocation of financial resources.

Quintile one is the ‘poorest' quintile, while quintile five is the ‘least poor'.

These poverty rankings are determined nationally according to the poverty of the community around the school, as well as, certain infrastructural factors.

Schools in quintile 1, 2 and 3 have been declared no-fee schools, while most schools in quintiles 4 and 5 are fee-paying schools. 

If we analyse the data of our Quintile 1-3 schools, our schools serving the poorest communities, the substantial increases in all indicators, including the pass rate, become immediately clear

Pass rate:

The pass rate in Quintile 1-3 schools has improved significantly in the last five years - in fact by 16.12 percentage points. The pass rate has increased from 56.93% in 2009 to 73.05% in 2013.

Numbers passing:

The WCED has stressed, for the last four years, that the numbers passing and quality of passes are more important indicators than the pass rate. Therefore, we are pleased that the number of passes in our poorer schools has increased by 3 354 learners since 2009.

Increases in bachelor passes:

An increase in Bachelor Degree passes is important as this signifies a steady improvement in the quality of passes within the system. It also means that more learners than ever before will now have the opportunity to apply for admission to higher education institutions.

In the Western Cape, the number of those achieving Bachelor passes in our poorer communities has DOUBLED.

This means that the numbers achieving Bachelor passes has increased by over 100% from 1 432 passes in 2009 to 3 219 passes in 2013.

Similarly, we have seen over a 100% increase in the percentage rate of those achieving bachelor passes, increasing by 11.02 percentage points from 9.9% in 2009 to 20.92% in 2013.

Underperforming schools

The argument that we have ‘neglected' our poorer poor-performing schools is clearly repudiated by the numbers below.

Since 2009, the number of underperforming schools in our poorer communities has decreased by 66% from 50 schools in 2009 to 17 in 2013.

The reason for the decline is the impact of targeted support to the schools in these areas.

Key elements of this support include the following depending on the needs of the school:

• Ensuring that all Grade 12 learners have textbooks in at least 6 core subjects.
• Providing Grade 12 learners with a study guideline called "Tips for Success" that provides advice on how and what to study for each subject, the structure of exam papers and how to manage their study time. These booklets have since been replicated in other provinces.
•  Providing learners with previous examination papers.
• Regular school visits by officials for curriculum support and monitoring.
• Meetings with learners and parents.
• Motivational talks by our district directors and staff.
• Follow up sessions with learners with irregular school attendance patterns.
• Tutoring of learners over week-ends and holidays by experienced teachers with a record of high learner achievement.
• Subject specific support to educators to improve curriculum delivery.
• A Telematics project which broadcasts lessons via satellite in selected subjects to 144 schools after school and over weekends. The WCED telematics programme has been introduced to two other provinces in the last two years.
• Personal mentoring by teachers of learners at risk.
• Providing learners with safe homework and study spaces.
• Monitoring the use of textbooks.
• Capacitating School Governing Bodies
• Weekly progress reports
• Lesson observation in specific subjects
• The monitoring of curriculum compliance and pace.
• The training of Subject Heads of Department to improve their curriculum management skills.
• Developing the examination setting skills of educators.
• Improving marking and assessment skills of educators
• "Lead teachers" to meet with teachers in their subject fields to discuss best practice in planning, methodology and assessment.
• Learners ‘at risk' to receive individual support such as counseling, target setting and study plans.

One could hardly call this neglect!

How these commentators arrive at their conclusions defies logic.

Conclusion:

Despite these improvements, the Western Cape Government recognizes the need to improve education outcomes in our Quintile 1-3 schools. Our budgets and strategies are all aligned to target these areas so that further improvements can be made.

The Western Cape Government inherited a system that was in decline, specifically, in these areas. We are proud that we have managed to turnaround this trend and improve on the results in these schools.

‘Misleading' or should I now say ‘disingenuous' statements such as those made in the last few days are not productive or positive to learners living in poorer communities.

They should instead be celebrating their successes and encourage them to do even better.

Statement issued by Western Cape Minister of Education, Donald Grant, January 9 2014

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