Basic education Matric turnaround plan ‘wishful thinking’

MEMBERS of the education portfolio committee snubbed the Department of Education’s plan to turn around poor Matric results.

The new plan was presented to the basic education portfolio committee by Dr Enoch Nzama, the deputy director general of curriculum management, in Durban on Friday.

The presentation came after the committees conducted a week-long tour of the province, visiting a number of schools who had performed badly.

The tour was sparked by KZN’s ‘dismal’ Matric pass rate figures, which placed the province as second worst in the country.

According to reports the presentation detailed plans to tackle multiple areas of concern, but committee members said it lacked focus.

A key problem area such as languages was identified, as some pupils faced challenges with cognitive abilities as they struggled with assessments that required critical thinking and correct interpretation of questions.

Leadership issues

Linda Hlongwa, chairwoman of the provincial portfolio committee for education, ripped apart the proposed plan, which aims to improve the delivery of textbooks, to increase holiday classes, to quarterly assess pupils’ progress and focus on teacher’s development, to make sure the curriculum is managed properly and completed in August to ensure enough time for revision before end of year exams.

‘The plan is all over the place and that is why I was asking if we have a budget for this…it sounds like wishful thinking at this stage,’ she said.

‘Teachers can’t teach and that is the problem,’ she said of schools the committee had visited.

Dr Nzama meanwhile said the plan was a first draft and more consultation was still going to take place.

‘The plan will focus on the districts that had poor results that brought the rest of the province down. We work with the portfolio committee and they said we must focus on key items.’