NORTHERN Province’s education department is so desperate to improve its school pass rate that it brought in a motivational speaker to teach principles and other senior school staff to literally walk on hot coals and broken glass.
Motivational speaker, Arnie Levitan, addressed a summit attended by 1 300 high school principals who had the fear of God put into them when national education minister Kader Asmal warned that they would be held personally accountable for poor matric results this year.
Last year, the matric pass rate for the entire province was a dismal 37,5%. “The summit provided principals with an opportunity to exchange ideas on how best they could enhance the performance of their schools and the matric results,” explained education spokesman, Rapule Matsane.
The province’s best performing schools were encouraged to share the secrets of their success with underachieving schools, while Levitan, an expert in learning techniques, was there to inject a serious dose of motivation. Levitan has been able to motivate people to walk barefoot on hot coals, as well as crushed glass. The seminar will be followed by an Education Indaba within the next month aimed at developing strategies to improve school performance. The success of the seminars will only be known at the end of the year once this year’s matriculants have completed their final exams.
Meanwhile, the South African Council of Churches announced this week that it was also appalled by the continuing poor pass rates in Northern Province.
Provincial SACC secretary, Mautji Pataki, said the council would train people to go to ineffective schools and train the teachers and principals in effective school management.
— African Eye News Service, March 14, 2000.