When Premier David Makhura spoke on the topic of education during his state of the province address on Monday, the pride in his voice was tangible. He said: “As Gauteng we started off 2015 on a high note, with the matric class of 2014 being the top performers in the country. Their total pass rate was 84.7%.
“The matric class of 2014 has set a new and decent standard, against which we will measure those who come after them,” Makhura said. “One of our great successes is the phenomenal improvement of the township schools in the matric exams; they performed at 78.6%, just 6.1% behind the provincial average. In 2010, township schools were almost 10% behind the provincial average.
“The achievement gap between fee and no-fee schools has reduced from 18% in 2010 to 12.4% in 2014. These achievements are due to the interventions of programmes such as the Secondary School Interventions Programme, and the role of civil society and communities in supporting and monitoring schools and learners in their areas, and contributing towards creating conditions to achieve quality education.
“Learners from township schools were among the top achievers in the 2014 matric exams. Out of the 26 learners who achieved full marks in subjects such as maths, physical science, accounting and life science, 25 were African learners from township schools.”
Smart schools
Makhura said that Gauteng City Region’s goal is to produce learners who can compete globally. This requires continued improvement to the quality of public education across the schooling system, with a particular focus on improving outcomes in maths and science.
He said the provincial government has taken “major steps” towards modernising the delivery of education in the Gauteng City Region, including launching paperless, technologically-enabled smart schools.
“We have allocated R2.6-billion for education infrastructure delivery,” he said. “We will continue converting existing schools into smart schools. We have already provided 88 000 tablets for use in our schools and will continue to advance e-learning.”
Makhura raised the issue of high profile racism and intolerance in schools over the past few months, saying: “This unacceptable behaviour is fuelled by adults, as no child is born a racist. Let us remind ourselves that South Africa belongs to all who live in it — black and white. We are one people and one nation, with a shared destiny.”
Tshepo 500 000
Makhura said that in order to strengthen and develop future skills, additional resources have been allocated to its bursary scheme and that in the 2014/15 financial year, the Gauteng City Region Academy awarded 5 122 beneficiaries at a cost of over R180-million, to support students studying towards various qualifications, including [those covering] scarce skills.
He said that in the last three years, R450-million was spent supporting 8 400 students, so the increase this year is substantial, with more expansion intended to increase allocations by a further 25%, in partnership with the private sector.
Gauteng launched its Tshepo 500 000 programme ahead of schedule in December 2014. It is meant to facilitate training, entrepreneurship development and employment opportunities for young people. Makhura said the response of the private sector and young people to the programme has been overwhelmingly positive. “Our target is to create 500 000 decent and sustainable jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people by 2019.
“This is yet another example of future partnerships between government and the private sector. I urge other private sector companies to come on board, so that together we can continue to inspire hope and create a better future for our young people.”