Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers still present in the House this evening, hon members, the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education participated in the official release in Pretoria of the National Senior Certificate results for 2011.
The proceedings were as follows: A technical briefing was given by the director-general of the department, followed by the official opening and welcome by the deputy director-general; an address by the Minister of Basic Education; the announcement of the two top-performing learners per quintile; the closing address and handing over of certificates and gifts; a media briefing and an interview. This was an event to which the committee was invited. There were no concerns or recommendations made. [Interjections.]
There was no debate.
Chairperson, I move:
That the Report be adopted.
Chairperson, the DA requests a declaration, please.
Requests for declarations of vote have been received. I will allow up to about three minutes for each party wishing to make a declaration. I want to emphasise that it is for those wishing to make a declaration - it is not mandatory. It is not compulsory.
Declarations of vote:
Somlomo, siyayixhasa le ngxelo kodwa sifuna ukuveza izinto ezimbalwa eziyingxaki. [Hon Chairperson, we support this report but we would like to highlight a few problematic things.]
The DA joined the Minister and the nation in congratulating those learners who obtained their National Senior Certificates in 2011. Our comments now are reserved for the Minister and all those responsible for the urgently required reform of education going forward. Our country is simply not showing an adequate return on our substantial investment in education. Four important statistics underpin this statement: Only 40% of learners who enrolled in Grade 1 in 2000 wrote the 2011 exams. The education system failed to retain 60% of the eager millennium Grade 1s. Forty-one per cent fewer learners were registered for Grade 11 in 2010 than those writing Grade 12 in 2011, suggesting that principals are holding back learners who are likely to fail in order to artificially inflate the pass rate. [Interjections.]
HON MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
Millions of rands were pumped into Dinaledi schools in the last financial year. However, the number of learners writing Grade 12 Mathematics dropped by 15% and those passing dropped by 1,1%. The number of learners writing physical science dropped by 12%. The number of teachers described as "qualified" increased from 53% in 1994 to 94% in 2009. There has not been a similar increase in learner performance. Something is seriously amiss with our teacher training.
Hear! Hear!
This report is acceptable and may be accurate. The education system on which it reports is deficient.
Ons kan nie bekostig om selfvoldaan te wees nie. Ons kan ook nie tevrede wees met die geringe verbetering in die slaagsyfer nie. [We can't afford to be complacent. We also can't be satisfied with the slight improvement in the pass rate.]
We can only settle for excellence at every level of schooling, from early childhood development and Grade R to Grade 12. We can only settle for our investment in education showing a return in the form of every child being granted a genuine opportunity to achieve his or her inherent potential. [Applause.]
Chairperson, it is a pity that we are standing here today in response to the declaration made by the DA on the issue of the number of the Grade 12 who write exams and those who pass. The reason I am saying it is a pity is that this is a long-standing debate, one that we have been having in the committee since 2010 until now. They are always raising the one and same debate. Good explanations have been given. Perhaps I have to repeat the explanations of why we have this low number of Grade 12s, compared to 2010-11.
First, there were changes in the admission age for schools from the ages of 6 to 7. That is why, in 2000, we had a smaller Grade 1 cohort that got in and that will definitely impact on what is going on now. [Interjections.] That is a fact. [Interjections.]
That has nothing to do with quality!
I will come to the issue of quality. Second, 2008 was the first year that the Grade 12 group wrote the school-leaving exam based on the revised curriculum, which was introduced successively in all Grades 12, and that is where we started to see the decrease. I am sure that DA members of the committee are very aware of that. It is a pity that the DA changes its members who sit in the committee every now and then, because they thus do not understand some of these matters and we have to explain it all again. [Laughter.] [Interjections.]
The increase in part-time enrolment since 2008, which they have been talking about, was explained by the number of full-time learners who failed Grade 12 in previous years and wanted to rewrite the examinations based on the old syllabus. A part-time basis was the only way that we could finish off with the learners who had been doing the old syllabus. Really, sometimes we just cannot see the argument that the DA wants to make. Maybe we just need to keep repeating these issues and in the end they will understand. [Interjections.]
What about the quality of education?
I am getting to it. The low Grade 12 through-put rate is a combination of many factors of which you are well aware. First, these factors might include the high rate of teenage pregnancy. Lastly, the evictions by farmers, who move schools from one place to another, contribute greatly to the quality of education. [Interjections.] [Laughter.] We will finish with Mr Smiles in the committee. [Time expired.]
Chairperson, hon members, we all know about the conditions under which our teachers have to work. Given these conditions, when the results were published, the IFP congratulated all those who passed. However, I want to invite this House, especially the committee, to look carefully at the article recently published by a renowned academic, the vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State. In that article, the vice-chancellor cautions against the exaggerated high over the high percentage of Grade 12 passes.
He gives his reasons. One is that the majority of those who passed failed their first year at university and he questions why they fail at such a rate. He also says that it seems very easy to obtain a distinction these days. I remember during my matric days it was really not easy to get a distinction. This renowned academic looks at other factors around matric results and I would really like us, as a committee, to have a real debate on the results. While we congratulate those who have passed, we must not just dismiss such a report so easily. We have to look into it. [Applause.]
Motion agreed to.
Report accordingly adopted.