EFF Fezile Dabi Regional Chairperson April Motaung
By Thys Khiba – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Fezile Dabi regional chairperson April Motaung has committed he will buy school uniform, including school shoes for 100 pupils of Kopanelang Thuto Primary School in Zamdela, Sasolburg in Free State.
While addressing learners, teachers and parents at Kopanelang Thuto Primary School, Motaung requested the appointed school principal, Mosia, to give him a list of 100 pupils who are in need of school shoes and are coming from disadvantaged families and backgrounds.
“On My Statement During The Address I Have Requested The Principal Of Kopanelang Thuto Primary School Mr Mosia Together With All Teachers To Provide Me With The List Of 100 Kids (The Needy) As To Immediately Assist With The School Full Uniform And This Will Be Done Every Year Up Until They Complete Their Education At The School,” said Motaung.
The EFF in the Free State province embarked on its back-to-school campaign and expressed concern on the state of the Basic Education sector in the province by alleging that 40% of Grade 10 learners and 26% of Grade 8 pupils have failed to pass their 2023 end-year examinations.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that 40% of Grade 10 pupils and 26% of Grade 8 pupils failed to pass their 2023 end-year examinations.”
The National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) released its 2023 South African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Report to Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande on 10 August.
The report stated that the Grade 10 throughput rate of 66.8% was worrying. The throughput rate is the Grade 10 learners who eventually wrote the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination. The Free State’s Grade 10 pupils were the province’s worst performers in the final exams in 2023 after a staggering 37.2% or 23 671 of the 63 655 Grade 10 pupils in Free State failed their 2023 examinations.
The EFF said they have always cautioned the “reactionary and outdated” ANC government that instead of only celebrating the final matric results, the Department of Education should look more into the throughout rate.
“The throughout rate is an excellent indicator of the failures or successes of our schooling system because it is a holistic approach to how many learners entered the schooling system and how many exited.
“This problem is not an overnight crisis but it is a volcano that has been waiting to erupt. The fact that 40% of Grade 10 pupils failed does not come as a surprise as a report from the National Advisory Council on Innovation in 2023 found that the Grade 10 throughout rate nationally was 66.8%. The Free State Department of Education under the leadership of MEC Makalo Mohale is clutching at straws in trying to explain and justify this mess.
“Instead of taking accountability and corrective measures, the department is blaming extenuating circumstances like Covid-19,” said EFF provincial spokesperson Patience Dibate.
Dibate claimed that abandoned school infrastructure is another contributing factor for the learners to struggle at school.
In response to the report, departmental spokesperson Howard Ndaba indicated that they are concerned with the pass percentage in both grades dropped by 4% from 78.1% in 2022 to 74.1% in 2023 in Grade 8 and from 66.8 to 62.8% in Grade 10.
“Both grades declined by 4% in 2023 while they showed an increase in the pass rate from 2021 to 2022,” said Ndaba.
Ndaba said due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Grades 8 and 10 and the lower grades experienced high learning losses “that manifests itself in the lack of acquisition of basic foundational skills in the languages and maths”.
“The idea is to realise the National Development Plan of increasing the number of learners offering these subjects as well as an increase in the number of learners offering the subjects in the technical vocational and occupational streams.
“The department started a special programme for Grades 9 and 10 in 2023 where more focus was placed on the development of Grade 10 teachers in especially maths, physical science and accounting.
“As part of closing the learning gaps, the department together with the schools will be administering the baseline tests to give our teachers exactly the content areas that need attention before the end of the first term,” Ndaba said.
EFF Fezile Dabi Regional Chairperson April Motaung
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