A TV learning channel, aimed at improving matric resuilts, was launched in Mpumalanga on Thursday.
LANDIWE DLAMINI reports
A TELEVISION learning channel aimed at improving the dismal matric pass rate in Mpumalanga was launched by provincial education MEC Craig Padayachee in Middelburg on Thursday, African Eye News Service reports.
Padayachee said more than 120 schools in the province would join the channel, sponsored by Liberty Life.
Schools will switch onto the William Smith teaching channel on SABC as part of the formal curriculum during normal school hours and pupils will be able to phone him with questions during the programme.
Padayachee said schools would need electricity, a telephone and a TV set to participate. He said schools that lacked these facilities should mobilise parents to get them.
“Consideration has been given to schools that have indicated an interest in purchasing TV sets, and these will be taken on board at a later stage,” he said.
The channel covers eight areas in Mpumalanga and subjects include science, mathematics, and English. The channel will ultimately be aimed at 378 schools and 439 part-time schools, with 41 500 full-time and 21 500 part-time matric pupils.
“There is no doubt that such a big programme needs the employment of resources. It is in this regard that the… partnership with Liberty Life demonstrates its significance in the provision of education,” said Padayachee.
The 1999 matric pass rate in Mpumalanga was 48%, down 4% from the region’s 1998 pass rate.
— African Eye News Service, January 21, 2000.