An improved matric pass rate did nothing to save a dysfunctional school from the wrath of a hands-on MEC, report Julia Grey and Jethro Kuzwayo
MEC for Education in Gauteng Ignatius Jacobs showed he meant business with the department’s campaign for “teach and learn on day one” when he let rip at learners and teachers at a Soweto school who did nothing but slack off on the first day of school.
Thesele High school in White City, Soweto, had the full glare of the education authorities focused on it, as Jacobs and his team made an unannounced visit on January 16 as Gauteng schools swung back into action.
But the only action the fuming MEC was met with was the milling about of unruly students and ill-prepared teachers.
The MEC marched from class to class admonishing students who were not in proper school uniform, and had the additional misfortune of discovering a bottle of brandy on one student.
Worse still, teachers had not prepared timetables, and some pupils had not even received last year’s results. “Don’t you feel guilty at the end of the month when you collect your pay cheque?” Jacobs asked the stunned teachers.
Jacobs’ reaction to all at the school was emphatic. Labelling Thesele as “the worst performing school in Gauteng”, Jacobs said: “I will not hesitate to close down this school any time if it does not improve its academic record. As the head of department I’m perturbed by the performance of Thesele. This is your last chance, or else—”
Jacobs described the matric results over the past six years as “pathetic”, and was totally non-plussed by the 17% pass rate for matric 2000.
This is inspite of Thesele being one of the schools targeted for additional attention in the Education Action Zones (EAZs), a Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) programme meant to help change the fortunes of the worst performing schools. Interventions included schemes like the “role model intervention programme”, where students identified as having academic potential were taken for intensive extra tuition in so-called “high risk subjects” like maths and science. The idea was for these students to return to their schools and demonstrate to their peers that success is possible, even in disadvantaged schools.
In the school’s defence, deputy principal Sehloho Khesa pointed out that “We are not the only school which is non-performing in Soweto. The EAZ team wanted us to show an improvement of 5%, and we exceeded that by improving by 8.5%. The fact is that we’ve had a number of problems with district officials who are not supportive of us as they always victimise us.”
He added that there were disruptions earlier in the year when officials attempted to move the school to Dlambolo in White City.
“We refused and ever since that time there is bad blood between the GDE officials and us. We also requested a supply of furniture as there was a lack of furniture at the school, but we only managed to get it in August 2000. By then it was too late to accommodate all the pupils.”
But Jacobs maintained that the school’s pass rate was unacceptable, and that he would not hesitate to pull the plug on the school if there were no signs of improvement – and quickly: “There must be drastic action,” said Jacobs, “failing which we’ll close the school.”
The immediate step taken was to appoint a school administrator, tasked with making sure the nuts and bolts of education – like drawing up a timetable, completing enrolments and ensuring punctual attendance by learners and educators alike – are put in place as quickly as possible. The job has been given to Sydney Seololyane, who is reported to have identified several “serious problems” at Thesele, including “high levels of ill-discipline”, and the fact that “both teachers and pupils do not take their work seriously”.
GDE superintendent general Malele Petje said the department would make a decision on the fate of the school after receiving a report from Seololyane.
Meanwhile, Khesa claims that teachers, pupils and parents have been involved in an on-going battle with district officials over the fate of the school. Parents have asked the school governing body to stop to any plans to close the school. “A legal battle between us and the GDE is still on,” said Khesa.
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, February, 2001.