Eastern Cape premier Mbulelo Sogoni was ”not happy” on Tuesday with the results that have put his province at the bottom of the 2008 matric class.
”Fifty percent is not good enough for the Eastern Cape. We do not deserve to be last all the time,” he said in a statement.
A meagre 30 494 pupils, or 50,6% of those who wrote the matric exam in the province, passed, according to provincial education minister Mahlubandile Qwase.
Last year the Eastern Cape recorded a 57,1% pass rate, which then made it the worst-performing province in the country.
This year’s result keeps it at the bottom of the table, just below Mpumalanga, where 51,8% passed.
The national pass rate — which education deputy director general Penny Vinjevold emphasisised was only an interim figure pending the capture of more results and the completion of supplementary exams — was 62,5%.
Sogoni said that while the province congratulated all its matric achievers, it was ”certainly not happy” with the overall results.
He urged all education stakeholders in the province to work together to ensure that the class of 2009 did better.
”We need to do proper planning and resource deployment for effective teaching and learning to take place on day one and all days of the school year,” he said.
Qwase said that even though the overall performance was ”still a challenge”, it was important to note a few ”statistical highlights”.
Of those who passed, 8 662 had met the requirements for admission to study for a bachelor’s degree.
This figure constituted 14,3% of the total number of this year’s pupils, a marked improvement from last year’s 9,3%.
There was a 71% pass rate for mathematical literacy, the former standard grade maths.
”Whilst our overall performance in maths and science requires improvement, these two areas’ qualitative standard has significantly improved, as maths produced 768 distinctions and physical science came in with 141,” Qwase said.
Accounting delivered a 56,3% pass rate, with 242 distinctions.
He said the best-performing education districts were Graaff Reinet, with a 70,1% pass rate, Port Elizabeth with 68,6% and Grahamstown with 66,6%.
”At this point it is crucial that we note the historical structural weaknesses that still prevail in our system that is invariably to the detriment of our learners from formerly disadvantaged schools,” he said.
There had been particularly poor performance in the province and nationally in the agricultural science exam.
”It was conceived and provided to learners to have a meaningful impact on the quality and quantity of agricultural practices in our country.
”It has not managed to achieve this … Considerable attention needs to be paid to this subject in the year ahead.” – Sapa