WCED 2019 Matric Results & 2020 School Readiness (unplaced learners, learner transport & textbooks delivery)

Meeting report

Ms Debbie Schäfer, Minister of Education, Western Cape Education Department (WCED), gave an overview of the 2019 matric results, focusing on unplaced learners and migrant learners. The province’s bachelor access, quintile one-three pass rates and overall pass rate all showed improvement. The top three national learners were from the Western Cape. The province’s performance was one of the reasons why there were so many migrant learners coming into the system. However, this did put immense amount of pressure on teachers and the Department’s financial resources. There were currently 23 000 additional learners, 6000 of which still needed to be placed in schools. This was a desperate situation and the Department was managing it to the best of its ability.

Ms Tina Singh, Chief Director, Western Cape Education Department, presented on the Western Cape National Senior Certificate results of 2019.  

Out of the 53 393 full-time learners that registered for the national examination, 50 404 students wrote the exam. Five percent of the learners did not write due to medical reasons and other valid explanations. These learners had the option of writing their exams in June.

The province’s overall pass rate increased from 81.5 % to 82.3% and the province had the highest national mathematics pass rate, at 70.2%, and the fourth highest bachelor degree access nationally. Additionally, the province had one of the best retention rates in the country. The number of bachelor access passes increased from 42.5% to 44.6% for female learners whilst there was a slight decline for male students. Schools from quintile one- four increased their pass rates and the number of learners with access to bachelor degree. However, schools in quintile five experienced a minor decline in the number of bachelor degree access. The number of schools with less than 60% pass rate decreased from 45 schools in 2018 to 38 in 2019. The Department would be paying attention to these schools and schools with a pass rate of around 60%.

The Department intended on increasing the number of learners enrolling in mathematics and physical science. It also intended on providing a detailed analysis of the matric results to the districts, subject advisors, curriculum planners and schools. This would enable all stakeholders to identify where the challenges were and to address them accordingly.

Mr Alan Meyer, Chief Director: Education Districts, Western Cape Education Department, presented on the admissions of learners into the education system for the 2020 academic year. The number of unplaced learners significantly reduced from 37 821 learners in October 2019 to 5 868, currently. The majority of the unplaced learners were applicants for grade one and grade eight placements. The Department had put several measures in place to tackle the matter – including securing 109 mobile classes, identifying 70 additional classrooms and the placing educators within the 70 additional classes. The Department was also in the process of creating 539 posts based on the requests from 279 schools for additional staff members. Ultimately, the Department’s goal was to have all learners placed by the end of February whilst attempting to keep the teacher to learner ratio at 1:40 for quality education purposes.

Ms Leslie McGlen, WCED, presented on the school readiness for learners’ transport and learner-teacher support material for the 2020 academic year. Established in 2015, the purpose of the Transport Scheme was to provide learners who lived more than five km away from public schools and in areas without access to public transportation to school. There were currently about 60 000 learners being transported across the entire province. In 2020 the main challenge would be accommodating late placement learners. However, the Department was working towards ensuring access to transportation for these learners. Due to limited staff, routine vehicle inspections were another challenge faced by the Department. Additionally, due to budget constraints, the Department had to apply strict measures concerning the interpretation of learner safety, which meant that not all motivations for safety were accommodated.

Ms McGlen further explained that schools received a budget for school textbooks in their Norms and Standard Budget.  The Department did make provision for top ups should there be a need.  All schools that ordered textbooks for 2020 received their textbooks in October 2019. However, due to late learner admissions the Department was anticipating emergency orders and had put measures in place to assist schools in such circumstances.

Mr Brian Schreuder, Head of Department (HOD), WCED, added that safety motivations were considered individually but because learners had varying safety concerns, only the most severe cases could be accommodated.  It was important for communities to assist with getting learners safely to schools.

Discussion

Mr R Mackenzie (DA) asked if the Department had conducted an in-depth study to understand the reasons why some learners were unable to write their final exams in time. What is the pass rate for these learners when they write their final exams in June?  He asked whether the Department had any plans to ensure that schools that performed well shared their best practice with other schools. How does the Department check the quality of marked exam papers to ensure that the final marks given to students were correct?

Mr R Allen (DA) asked how many of the 69 schools, which had a 100% pass rate, had under 30 learners. Does the Department keep track of learners who change their subjects from grade ten upwards?

The Chairperson asked what went wrong with Laingsburg High School matric results.  She then asked when the Department conducted vehicle inspections - whether it was before the school year started. Were there any deficits founds on the vehicles during inspections? What happens if there are any deficits found on the vehicles?

Mr M Kama (ANC) noted that the Department continued to attribute most of its challenges to the high number of learners migrating into the province. He asked how the high number of migrant learners would affect the province’s overall pass rate. This was in light of the fact that Gauteng continued to have good matric results despite its high number of learner migration. How does the Department monitor the schools’ learner admission policies to prevent discriminatory practices, particularly in former Model-C schools?  

Mr K Sayed (ANC) congratulated the Department and the heads of the seven districts that performed well for their matric results. However, he noted that the Metro-East district did not perform too well and asked why this was the case.  What plans are in place to improve district’s performance? He also requested information on how access to bachelor degree was spread across the various quintiles.

Mr Sayed asked if there would be any consequence management for the incident that occurred at Laingsburg High School. What measures is the Department putting in place to address the many challenges in the school, as the principal seems to be indifferent to these issues? How will the Department encourage more learners to enroll in mathematics? What can the Committee do as public representatives to assist in the matter? 

Mr F Christians (ACDP) asked how the Department intended on improving the number of learners with bachelor degree access in quintiles one-three. He also noted that there were currently classes where the learner-to-teacher ratio was greater than the stipulated 1:40 ratio; he asked how and when this would be improved. Additionally, he asked how the Department was monitoring the implementation of the norms and standards, as some of the schools that were not applying them tended to blame the Department for their problems. He then commended schools such as Hillcrest High School and the Department for their continuous hard work amidst the many challenges within the schools and the system.

Mr Mackenzie asked why the mathematics pass rate had been decreasing over the years. Is it because mathematics is getting tougher? Are teachers less able to teach? He then asked the Department how it aimed to address the issue of mathematics from the foundation phases - grades R to five.

The Chairperson asked how the Department encouraged partnerships between industries and schools.

Responses

Minister Schäfer indicated that the Department did have platforms for schools to share best practices. The Department also had moderators who were responsible for checking the marking quality.  She also asked how was it possible for learners who requested a remark to have different results after the remark process.

The Minister noted that despite there being additional learners coming into the province; the province had not received any additional financial support to accommodate the influx. Instead, the money for these learners remained in the sender province’s budget. The Department had consulted with both national and provincial treasury offices on the matter. Thus far, the expectation was that the province cushioned other provinces without receiving any support, which she found to be problematic. Another challenge was that the Department found itself having to use the school infrastructure budget to pay wages instead of using it to accommodate additional learners in the system. This was because wage negotiations happened at a national level on behalf of the Department although the Department did not receive any additional finances to support the wage agreements.

The Minister also noted that there were many students who came to the province at grade 10 and upwards with backlog in their education due to the poor education they received in their province of origin.  About 30% of these learners would usually end up failing their matric. Also, some of the learners who came to the province happened to have special needs but National Treasury did not allocate the additional funding to meet their needs. Whilst acknowledging that Gauteng also had a high number of migrants, the Minister stressed that when one looked at the student retention rate, passing percentage, bachelor access as well as mathematics and science pass rates, the Western Cape actually performed better than Gauteng. She also questioned the accuracy of the data used to monitor how individual provinces performed in terms of matric results.

In order to motivate more learners to take mathematics and science, the Department wanted to stop the obsession with being number one because this led to schools indirectly discouraging learners from doing these subjects due to concerns overall school’s performance.

Concerning the issue of admission policy, the Minister stated that the Department took the matter very seriously and investigated complaints brought forth against schools, on the basis of their admission practices.  On the matter of the Metro East district, the Minister indicated that the district was improving and that she was quiet happy with the districts performance.

Touching on the issue of consequences for the principals, Ms Schäfer stated that the Department would be changing the performance management system; it was ineffective since individuals did not adhere to it. The new system would hold principals directly accountable for what happens at their schools.

In order to assist the Department, the Minister said that public representatives should encourage the public to understand that the Department did not intentionally look to cause problems within the system. The public should bring forth its issues but also work with the Department in solving some of the problems within the system – such as vandalism and children misbehaving at schools.

Regarding the teacher to leaner ratio, Ms Schäfer indicated that the Department was aware of the problem and was working on the matter. However, the Department needed to accommodate each and every learner, irrespective of how this could affect the 1:40 ratio. She requested ideas on how best to resolve the matter as the Department currently lacked the resources necessary to accommodate all learners.

The Minister requested that the Department should do a presentation on how it would better monitor the Norms and Standards Budget. Currently there were not enough mathematics teachers and the Department was working into virtual classes as a means to improve the mathematics pass rates. The Minister indicated that the Department did encourage partnerships between schools and the communities.

Mr Schreuder urged the Members to look at the system as a living organism and be aware of the fact that the fluctuating numbers were not abnormal. The figures needed to also be taken as a representation of how the system was performing, which also included learners, teachers and the Department’s contributions; they thus did not solely depend on the Department’s activities. With this in mind, the Department wanted to urge governing bodies to elect quality principals who would be able to address challenges faced by the schools. In order for schools to perform well, there needed to be good leadership within the school. Schools within the same districts also needed to assist each other and share information to realise best practices.

Mr Schreuder stated that although there had not been an in-depth study on the reasons why some learners do not write their final exams, over 2000 of these learners missed their exams due to medical reasons; some were progressed learners who had the option of writing their exams in parts. Thus, the overall number did not necessarily refer to learners who had dropped out. However, the June pass rate was usually dismal, which resulted in learners performing poorly due to the gap between the exam and the time they had classes.

Mr Schreuder affirmed that the Western Cape was lauded for its marking quality in schools. Ten percent of each individual script typically got moderated or re-marked. If a senior maker picked up anomalies or trends on scripts, the papers would get remarked. Should the challenge persist, the marker would receive further training or be released. The remarking process was generally an exception but it was often caused by the fact that marking was an interpretative process and therefore markers could give varying marks, depending on how they interpreted the learners’ work. The Department made sure that there was high quality marking practices within the province.

Looking at the issue of mathematics, he stressed that one had to be cognizant of the fact that not all children have mathematical aptitude. However, the Department reckoned that not all learners with mathematical aptitude were taking the subject; it had set out a target of the 40-60% learners taking the subject. The Department did provide targeted interventions to assist learners in subjects where they were struggling. None of the schools with 100% pass rate had under 30 learners.

The Laingsburg principal retired in 2019, following the case at the school. What had happened with the results was that scripts were misfiled by the deputy principal and the principal was not able to submit the scripts to the Department timeously. The Department was able to send students’ results to the universities in time in order to not jeopardize learners chances of getting admitted into higher learning institutions should they qualify. Despite this, disciplinary measures would be taken against relevant parties.

Ms McGlen addressed the issue of transport inspection, explaining that each district had transport inspection officials who conducted routine checks on vehicles used to transport children to school. There was also a monitoring system where principals also did routine checks on the vehicles in the mornings. The public was also encouraged to report any issues with regards to transportation and vehicles.

Referring to the issue of the Norms and Standards Budget, Mr Meyer indicated that 25% of the budget had to be used for school maintenance. The Department was aware that schools did try to avoid using the money accordingly and hence there was a 043 Form that the schools needed to submit to the district office to report how they made use of the money. The districts also had compliance officers whose responsibility was to check that schools compiled with the norms and standards regulations. The challenge was with the schools, in the metro, with high services costs that could take up to more than 50% of the school’s budget. The Department had been encouraging these schools to put measures to reduce costs such as the use of grey water and was currently working on a project to introduce the use of solar energy. At the end of each financial period schools had to submit their audited financial statements to the districts and these would be evaluated by an accredited auditor. The Department was prepared to do a presentation as per the Minister’s request on the Norms and Standards Budget.

Follow-up questions

Mr Mackenzie informed the Department that upon his visit to one of the schools in Plettenberg Bay, one of the principals shared with him that their school only found out last year in December who the transport contractor was; this particular contractor was from Mpumalanga and only got to know the routes in January, when the schools opened for the year. Is this something that is also happening at other schools?  He also asked how the Department allocated physical infrastructure to learners within the schools as he was aware of schools where students did not have enough desks in the classrooms.

Mr Allen asked what the percentage of safety motivation applications that the Department declined was. Is there an expiration date on the mobile classes, as they seem to be a temporary measure?

Mr Kama asked for further clarification on how migrant students affected the matric results as this was not a new issue and the province still managed to perform well despite having a high number of migrant learners.

Mr Sayed asked the Department to what extent was it strengthening the quality of life orientation teaching in schools as this could potentially assist with some of the behavioral challenges in schools. What steps is the Department taking in the Kuyakhanya Primary School sexual assault cases?

Mr Sayed asked for a status update on the cases pertaining to school admission practices that were brought forth to the Department; he had also reported a case but was still awaiting feedback on the matter. He requested clarity on instances where grade one and eight learners were refused admission to schools because they had failed certain grades. What does the Department envision to be the average class sizes of schools within the varying quintiles, considering the high number of late placement of learners?   

Mr Christians asked whether the Department considered erecting mobile classrooms in areas where there was a high number of learners that needed to commute long distances to school. Concerning the approval of transportation access, he asked when the Department deviated from its 5 kilometer rule. How many cases had a deviation?

The Chairperson asked the Department to provide information on the catch-up program that was in place for learners that were placed late in schools.

Responses

Ms Schäfer responded that there were no particular percentage safety motivation applications that got declined; each individual motivation was considered based on merit and budgetary considerations.

The Minister indicated that the life orientation subject was being improved and that during the previous week there was a special event giving recognition to its teachers.

Ms Schäfer acknowledged that there were inconsistent practices and encouraged the Members to bring cases forth to the Department for them to be reviewed.  The Department had had instances where people complained about mobile schools because they were inadequate. There was a misconception that these schools were cheap, which is not the case.

Mr Schreuder shared that it took months to erect mobile schools. The Department needed to find a balance between transport costs and erecting new schools, with the latter requiring new teachers and land. There was no timespan on the mobile schools and their sustenance depended on how well they were handled. When the schools were well taken care of, they would last long and if not they would get wrecked quickly.

Concerning the catch-up for late placement learners, each school had the responsibility of ensuring that it assisted learners in catching up before the end of the first term and the district did provide support when needed.

Ms McGlen asked for the details on the route of the contractor that was only appointed in December so that the matter could be further investigate. The Department could not exclude service providers from outside the province.

Mr Schreuder explained that the Department did take into consideration the circumstances around the transport policy. However, its decisions were also affected by its financial constraints.

Regarding the sexual assault cases, the Department did take such matters seriously but it had to ensure that these cases were investigated fairly.

Mr Muaath Gabier, Progressive Professionals Forum, asked the Department what its view was on reestablishing the Bambanani Initiative as a means of encouraging partnership between the schools and community. He also asked if the Department knew how many learners were being denied access to schools due school admission policies.

In terms of vehicle inspections, Mr Gabier asked the Department why traffic officers were not doing the vehicle inspections themselves, instead of them being done by teachers and so forth. Were there any additional provisions made to ensure that these vehicles are suitable to transport learners?

Ms Schäfer indicated that instead of the Bambanani, the Department was encouraging schools using accredited neighbourhood watches. The Department also had mechanism in place to address discriminatory admission policies. There were instances where people applied late and then claimed that they were being unfairly discriminated against.

Mr Schreuder added that on the issue of Bambanani, the key concern was to have communities working in partnership with the schools to promote the safety of learners and school property. Concerning the admission of learners to schools, schools did submit their policies to the Department to ensure that they were not discriminatory. However, this did not mean that such practices did not take place but the Department did intervene in such cases.

Mr Schreuder indicated that school buses underwent inspections every six months to ensure their roadworthiness. The transport inspections by principals were just an additional measure that the Department had put in place.

Actions and recommendations

• Department to do a presentation on the Norms and Standard Budget
• Committee was to provide the Department with Plettenberg Bay route for the Department to investigate the contractor matter.
• Department was to provide number of transport application cases that were declined.
• Department was to provide number of learner admission appeal cases that were bought forth to the Department and the number of cases that were overturned.
• Department was to provide information on mechanisms in place to ensure that learners that were placed late get to catch up with their schoolwork.
• Department was to investigate cases where school admission policies had not been applied consistently.
• Department was to present on what mechanisms it had in place to encourage schools to go green and reduce costs wherever possible.
• Department was to provide the committee with its learner mathematics strategy.
• Department was to provide a detailed analysis of migrant learners and their performance within the system.
• Department was to provide the committee with its strategy for replacing technical teachers that were getting out of the system.
• Department was to provide share with committee how it intended to ensure that underutilized classrooms were furnished.
• Department was to provide list of schools due for infrastructure upgrades and planned new schools.
• Department was to provide the committee with information regarding the roles and list of the managers it requested.
• Department was to provide information on who would be disciplined for the Laingsburg issue.