Address by Gauteng MEC for Education, Angie Motshekga, on the occasion of the release of the 2007 matric examination results

28 December 2007, Wits University

Programme Director
Premier of Gauteng Provincial Government, Mr. Mbhazima Shilowa
Fellow MEC’s
Friends from the Business Sector
Head of Department and Staff of the Department
Our Guest Speaker, Professor Mike Sathekge
School Principals
Parents and Learners
Officials of the Department
Representatives of various media groups
Honoured Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Finally, today I am presenting the very last aspect of the matric examinations results based on the old style curriculum. As we stand on the eve of rolling out the New Curriculum Statements (NCS), I am indeed thrilled that the struggles we waged under the then banner of the then National Education Coordinating Committee (NECC) as well as the United Democratic Front (UDF) have finally yielded visible dividends that will forever make us proud.

It will be therefore, appropriate to salute all those stalwarts that made a major sacrifice for us to move towards a better education as a nation.

May, I also thank the entire Recovery Plan team, Educators, Unions and support staff for the stunning work done in ensuring that our learners get the necessary support after the three week Industrial Action. We had 21 000 educators and 684 schools participating in our Recovery Plan. From the results, we have seen a remarkable improvement to those schools that were affected by the industrial action.

All those educators that participated in the recovery plan can be assured that we have already started with the processing of their payments. I am assured that come end January these payments will be in their bank accounts. 

I am also grateful to the team that organised various District Education Summits; it is clear from the results that these summits indeed provided assistance to our schools especially in the Vaal and Soweto nodal areas.

Kindly allow me to present to you a detailed report of the performance of OUR 2007 Matric learners.

Provincial Pass Rate

• The overall provincial pass rate attained in respect of the 2007 Senior Certificate examinations results was 74.6%
• The 2007 provincial pass rate showed a decline of 3.7% over the 2006 one
• The average provincial pass rate achieved over the last six years was 77.35%. 
• 17307 or 20.4% candidates obtained a Senior Certificate with endorsement
• 298 more learners obtained a Senior Certificate with endorsement in comparison to 2006
• A total of 63287 learners passed in 2007 compared with only 57340 in 2006
• The aggregate number of candidates entered for Senior Certificate examinations  swelled by a substantial figure of 15300 in 2007 as compared to 2006

Further to this, Table 1.2 above indicates the following pointers:

• The total number of candidates who entered for the Senior Certificate with endorsement increased by 2117 or 7.39% over the last year.
• This upward movement was evident in the 1198 increase in the total number of candidates who actually passed with endorsement
• Conversely, there was a slight decline of 1.61% in the proportion of candidates who achieved a Senior Certificate with endorsement.  This probably points to a levelling off in the performance of the candidates in the top end of the results spectrum rather than a qualitative decline in results.
• The aggregate number of candidates entered for Senior Certificate examinations  swelled by a substantial figure of 11615 in 2007 as compared to 2006

Table 1.3: Pass rates (2002-2007)

The average pass rate achieved over the last six years was 77.35%.  Although the 2007 provincial pass rate showed a decline of 3.7% over the 2006 one, it was evident that there was a systemic adjustment at the top end of the results spectrum which, in turn, actually indicates that rigorous standards in assessment and examinations processes have been maintained.  This could imply that the normal distribution pattern was intrinsically reestablishing itself over the last six years.  Therefore, the targeted provincial pass rate in the 2008 academic year could realistically be set around 75%.

Table 1.4: Analysis of District Results

The following observations could be gleaned from the analysis of district results as shown in Table 1.4:

• In terms of the district pass rates, the best performing district was Sedibeng East with 86. 83%, followed closely by Tshwane South and Johannesburg East at 86.53% and 84.74% respectively
• Just over half, 53% of districts, namely Gauteng North, Tshwane North, Gauteng East, Sedibeng West, Johannesburg South, Johannesburg Central, Tshwane west and Ekurhuleni South, failed to achieve the provincial average pass rate of 74.63%
• Furthermore, 60% of districts failed to achieve the 2006 provincial pass rate of 78.3%
• Only four districts (26.67%) achieved the targeted provincial pass rate of 80% and above, namely Sedibeng East at 86.80%, Tshwane south with 86.51%, Johannesburg East on 84.74%, and finally Johannesburg west at 80.78%

Figure 1.7 Analysis of schools per quintile grouping

The analysis of results in terms of quintiles is as follows:

• The schools in the higher quintiles (Quintile 3-5) obtained the best pass rates (65.2%, 70.45% and 95.29% respectively), whereas schools in the lower quintiles (Quintile 1 and 2) obtained the worst pass rates (56.32% and 61.53% in that order)
• Schools in the higher quintiles also entered proportionately more learners than those at the lower end.
• This could possibly signal a positive correlation between resource endowment and learner performance

DISTINCTIONS

• The total number of distinctions increased from 10 857 in 2006 to 11802 in 2007, which represents an improvement of 8.7%
• The total number of distinctions obtained by female learners increased from 6433 in 2006 to 7254 in 2007, which translates into a 12.8% improvement
• However, the number of candidates who obtained 10 As declined from 3 in 2006 to only 1 in 2007
• There was a substantial decrease in the number of candidates ho obtained between 5 and 8 distinctions as opposed to a notable increase in the number of candidates who achieved between 1 and four distinctions

Table 1.8: Distinctions (2006-2007)

Best Performing Public Schools

• All of the 10 Top Ten Schools are in quintile 5
• 80% of the Top Ten schools are located in the Tshwane Metropolitan area.

Top 10 Public Schools

The Best Performing schools that are listed above were arrived at according to school with a learner enrolment of 200 and above, obtained 100% pass rate, and the proportion of learners passed with endorsement. 

Worst Performing Schools

• Approximately 50% of the schools that obtained pass rates below 20% were independent inner city schools

Table 1.18: worst performing Schools

For the purpose of this report the following schools mentioned were the worst in terms of having obtained pass rates of 20% and below:

The distinguishing features of these schools were as follows

• Katlehong Secondary School single-handedly failed a total of 328 learners in terms of those who wrote examinations
• They collectively accounted for failing a combined total of 627 learners A total of 122 learners from these schools entered but did not write examinations

Gateway Subjects

• The pass rates in gateway subjects reached their lowest levels in 2007 in comparison to the period 2004-6

 National Subjects

• There was an overall increase in the number of both male and female learners who wrote national subjects
• The pass rates obtained were generally lower in 2007 than in 2006

Schools of focused learning

School of focussed learning are those schools that offer specialised programmes, including sport (Rosina Sedibane Modiba), arts (National School of the Arts, Science (St Barnabas Secondary School), and Commerce (Pace Secondary School).

Overall learner enrolment in the schools of focussed learning increased from 219 in 2006 to 268 in 2007 which represents a 2% growth

• Rosina Sedibane Modiba Secondary School- The number of learners who were entered for examinations declined from 55 to 51
• St. Barbanabas Secondary School - enrolment increased from 52 to 76 learners
• Pace Secondary School - enrolment increased from 20 to 47 learners
• National School of the Arts- enrolment increased from 92 to 94 learners

Table 1.16 Schools of focussed Learning

• The best performing school for focussed learning in 2007 was the National School of the Arts at 98.89%, which incidentally recorded the only improvement in this category of schools
• The rest of the schools experienced declines ranging between 5% and 19%

NATIONAL SUBJECTS

Biology HG

• The pass rate for Biology HG has decreased to its lowest rate in the last three years
• There was a decline of 4% between 2006 and 2007

Biology SG

• Has shown an increase of 1% in 2007 as compared with a decline that was experienced from 2004 to 2006

Business Economics HG

• The 2007 pass rate of 70.49% was higher than the average of 66.12% that was achieved in the preceding three years (2004-6)
• However, there was a decline in the pass rate of 6% between 2006 and 2007

Business Economics SG

• The 2007 pass rate of 73.24% was above the average of 68.14% over the period 2004-6 despite a decline of 6% in 2007 in comparison to 2006

Economics HG

• The 2007 pass rate 64.67% was above the average 63.64% over the last three years in spite of the decline of 7% in 2007 versus 2006

Economics SG

• The 2007 pass rate of 64.67% showed a decline of 1% over the 2006 rate and was significantly lower than the average of 85.56% over the period 2004-6

Learner enrolment for national subjects

• There was an overall increase in the number of both male and female learners who wrote national subjects
• The number of female learners who wrote national subjects is greater than that of their male counterparts in most cases except for Mathematics HG and Physical Science HG
• In 2006 Maths HG the number of male learners who wrote the examinations was 866 more than their female counterparts, but in 2007 the discrepancy decreased to 344
• In 2006 for Physical Science HG the number of male learners who wrote the examinations was 1410 greater than their female counterparts, but in 2007 the difference decreased to 694
• Another significant increase noted was in the number of candidates that sat for Mathematics, especially female candidates. Overall there was a 9% increase of which 3 833 candidates were female. However there would still be a need to intensify the motivation programmes to encourage female learners to take up Mathematics (more so on HG as opposed to SG).
• The overall number of candidates who wrote examinations in both Higher Grade and Standard Grade Mathematics was significantly higher in 2007 than in the preceding two years. In fact, 8946 more learners wrote the Mathematics examinations in 2007 than in 2006
• On the other hand, 4167 more female learners than male learners wrote the Maths Standard Grade paper
• The ratio of the total number of male to female learners who wrote both Maths Higher Grade and Standard Grade was fairly close to 1:1
• The actual number of male learners who wrote Maths on the Higher Grade was 334 more than that of female learners
• The proportion of learners who offered Maths on the Higher Grade (only 17.85%) was significantly low in relation to those on the Standard Grade

GATEWAY SUBJECTS

The following observations were made in regard to gateway subjects:

English HG and SG

• The overall number of learners who wrote gateway subjects (with the exception of English Second language Standard Grade and Accounting Higher Grade) has increased over the last four years.  The total number of learners who wrote gateway subjects in 2004 was 150018 and went up to 186960 in 2007 which was a growth of 36942 learners or 26.4%
• The total number of learners who wrote English Second Language Higher Grade increased by 11359 over the period
• The number of learners who wrote English Second Language Standard Grade showed a decrease of 1190 over the four year period.

Mathematics HG and SG

• The number of learners who wrote Mathematics Higher Grade increased over the period 2004-2007 by 550
• The number of learners who wrote Mathematics Standard Grade increased by 11671 over the same period

Physical science HG and SG

• The number of Higher Grade learners who wrote Physical Science increased by 1615 over the last four years
• The number of  who those who wrote Physical Science on the Standard Grade increased by  6989

Accounting HG and SG

• There was a minimal increase of 247 learners who wrote Accounting Higher Grade over the last four years and only 271 on Standard Grade
• The pass rate for Physical Science on the Standard Grade decreased from 55.8 to 50.5

Accounting HG and SG

• The pass rate for Accounting Higher Grade had reached some stability in the period 2004-2006, but subsequently dropped by 4.6% in 2007
• The pass rate for Accounting SG showed a small improvement of 0.8% in 2007 against 2006

English Second Language HG and SG

• The pass rate in English Second Language HG has decreased from 86.9% in 2005 to 80.9 in 2007 English
• The pass rate in English Second Language SG has reached a plateau at around 95% over the last four years

Mathematics HG and SG

• The pass rate for Mathematics Higher Grade has decreased from 70.6% to 68.7% over the period 2004-2007 by 550
• The pass rate for Mathematics Standard Grade decreased from 51.3% to 44.4% over the same period

Physical science HG and SG

• The pass rate for Physical Science HG had stabilized around 68.8% from 2004-2006, but dropped by 10% in 2007

DINALEDI

The focus of the Dinaledi Schools Initiative is to ensure the improvement in Maths HG passes, both qualitatively and quantitatively.   The following observations were made in terms of their performance in 2007:

• The HG Maths pass rate of Dinaledi schools surpasses the provincial total pass rate by 1.15 %.
• The provincial target of 1100 learners who passed HG Maths in 2007 was exceeded by 715 (with1815 passes achieved)
• Out of 7040 learners who passed HG Maths provincially 25.78% come from Dinaledi Schools.
• The proportion of male learners offering HG Maths was 8% greater than that of female learners
• But the proportion of female learners offering Maths SG was 19% greater than that of male learners.
• Of the provincial total of 1176 distinctions obtained in Maths HG in 2007, 262 were attributable to learners from Dinaledi Schools

WAY FORWARD

• The worst performing schools will be prioritized to receive more intensive monitoring and support, particularly public schools in the nodal areas, notably Kathorus as well as independent inner city schools
• The analysis of results by quintile indicates that a lot more has to be done to bridge the historical gaps in terms of resourcing schools.  The quality of results still mirrors the historical disparities of the past.  Therefore, resource provisioning for Quintile 1 and 2 schools will be enhanced quite considerably in the medium term
• The support given to Dinaledi schools is beginning to yield some positive results, therefore efforts to enhance the competency of educators to teach content as well as provision of additional resources will be heightened
• We will immediately review the impact of SSIP with an intention of merging it with the Recovery Plan Strategies.  A new strategy will be formulated and be ready for roll out by end of January 2008.
• A concerted effort has to be undertaken to expedite the delivery of LTSM in schools
• The momentum to reduce inequalities between girl learners and their male counterparts will be redeveloped by addressing the socio-economic factors that impede girls from optimising their performance
• The policy areas that impact on teaching and learning, especially literacy and numeracy as well as life skills programmes (principally study and examination skills) will be prioritised across the school system, not only in FET schools
• Greater emphasis will be placed on strategies to reduce inequalities between schools at the level of the classroom.  The quality of teaching, LTSM and learning conditions have to be improved to give all learners an equal chance of accomplishing their full potential.

Conclusion

Although the occasion of a decline in the provincial pass rate is a source of major concern, the overall picture does not present gloomy future prospects.  The underlying systemic fundamentals to fuel improvements in learner performance are in place.  The challenge is to look to address the pitfalls of the past and prepare for the future.

The imperative to improve the quality of education rests on how well learners are taught and how much they learn.  It is also crucial to direct our efforts at the socioeconomic factors, resource allocation and equity.  By focusing on these dimensions, the attainment of educational outcomes could be enhanced.

The 2008 academic year will for the first time see learners write the new National Senior Certificate examinations.  This will set the tone for the performance of learners going forward.

VOTE OF THANKS

My sincere gratitude goes to the Premier of Gauteng, Mr Mbhazima Shilowa for his continued support as well as my fellow MEC’s in the Executive, the HOD, Mr Mallele Petje, the entire Examination Unit Staff, My Office as well as my family for their understanding.

I thank you and wish all learners leaving schooling the best in their future endeavours, those afforded the second chance to take the opportunity and the rest of you compliments for 2008.

I thank you!