Lesufi attempting to distract public from public school shambles by calling for scrapping of IEB exams

18 January 2024

ActionSA believes that Gauteng Premier and former Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, is attempting to distract the South African public from the continued failures of the country’s public schooling system which has been plagued by reports of leaked papers and declining standards, by calling for the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) examinations to be scrapped.

The not-for-profit IEB examinations - which achieved a nearly 100% pass rate - have become a benchmark of what can be achieved through high-quality teaching and learner support. But, instead of learning from the world-class examination board and improving public schooling, Premier Lesufi has decided to condemn it in an attempt to distract the public from his own government's education catastrophes.

It has been well-documented that in the eight years as Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza has done little to improve public schooling for the province’s poorest, and instead resorted to populist remarks crafted to appear as though progress is being made.

One should not forget that it was under his leadership that R98 million was spent to build Mayibuye Primary School in Tembisa which, today, cannot be used as it was built on a wetland, and that R431 million was irregularly spent to sanitise public schools in Gauteng during Covid-19.

As a party which values quality education, ActionSA believes that public schooling and the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination should be improved instead of trying to collapse the well-functioning IEB examinations into the failing NSC.

When elected into government, ActionSA will abolish the substandard 30% pass rate and replace it with a 50% pass rate to ensure all pupils pass with a good grasp of subject fields.

We would reform the curriculum to ensure that once a pupil completes the NSC examination, they have the required skill set to continue their tertiary studies and to enter the South African job market to meaningfully contribute to our economy. More vocational subjects should be introduced in the South African schooling system to give pupils practical skills once they leave the schooling system.

Most importantly, the frontiers of labour unions, like SADTU, should be rolled back to ensure that teachers are equipped and qualified to give pupils the best possible education, and where the teachers have been found lacking, the independence of the South African Council of Educators (SACE) should be restored to keep teachers accountable.

ActionSA believes that education is one of the most powerful tools to enable someone to empower themselves and break the cycle of poverty in their community. However, the ruling party’s failure to fix the dysfunctional education system is a crime against the poor as it doesn’t empower them to attain more opportunities.

The best thing South Africans can do to safeguard our education system and improve quality education is to remove the ruling party and vote for ActionSA.

Issued by Angela Sobey, ActionSA Senator, 18 January 2024