Pretoria – While Robert Kieser, 18, was aiming for a position in the top five of Gauteng’s 2010 matric top achievers - being among the top three came...

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Pretoria – While Robert Kieser, 18, was aiming for a position in the top five of Gauteng’s 2010 matric top achievers - being among the top three came as a big surprise.

“I told myself from the beginning of the year that I will be in the top five in the province, but I was nervous before the release of the results because you never know whether you’ll make it. But in the end, my hard work paid off,” he told BuaNews.

Robert, who is a matriculant from Sutherland High School, will pursue his career in Medicine at the University of Pretoria after getting eight distinctions in last year’s matric exams.

He was among 31 top learners who joined Tshwane Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa at an awards ceremony on Tuesday to congratulate them on their achievements.

Among the top achievers was Funanani Munzhelele, who despite his challenges, refused to allow his albinism to bring him down. Instead, he used it to achieve his goal.

Funanani, aged 17, will be pursuing his studies in Mechanical Engineering at Wits University, after obtaining five distinctions in last year’s matric exams, making him the top learner in the Tshwane West district.

Funanani, who is a matriculant from Filadelfia Secondary School in Soshanguve, obtained distinctions in Maths, Physical Science, Mechanical Technology, Engineering Graphics and Designs as well as Life Orientation, which he described as the most easiest subject.

“Albinism didn’t bring me down, instead it motivated me to achieve my goal. I started Grade 1 at the age of five and have never repeated any class. I’d like to encourage other people who are different to also aim high and let their dreams come true,” Munzhelele said.

He added that the results did not come as a surprise, thanks to the school teachers who started preparing them for Grade 12 well in advance.

Rebone Shaku, 18, who obtained six distinctions, advised this year’s matriculants to start their studies early instead of waiting until June.

“Be determined and start preparing now. A matric certificate shapes out your future and in order to make it in life, be prepared to work hard,” said Rebone, who will be studying Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria.

Honouring learners’ achievements, Mayor Ramokgopa awarded the learners with certificates and laptops to help them advance in their studies.

He warned learners not to let their achievements get to their heads.

“When you go to university, it doesn’t matter that you’ve got nine or six distinctions. You must work hard, be disciplined and consistent to the teachings of your parents and teachers.

“Pursue your studies beyond so that you are able to contribute towards the country’s economic growth by coming up with new ideas. You have a role to play in ensuring that the country … brings down the unemployment rate,” Ramokgopa told learners.

He also acknowledged learners from poor homes, who rose above all difficulties. “It’s this generation who will break the cycle of poverty in those households,” he said. - BuaNews

Pretoria - Improving South Africa’s education system; broadening access to tertiary education and accelerating efforts to enhance health care, will...

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Pretoria - While the class of 2010 faced major challenges and disruptions due to the three week long public servants strike and the month-long FIFA World Cup, their results have shown a major improvement, say analysts.

The Class of 2010 recorded a pass rate of 67.8 percent - an increase of 7.2 percent from 2009's 60.6 percent national pass rate.

Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, has commended this improvement, calling the class of 2010 “truly distinctive”.

"We've worked hard to ensure the credibility of the exams. Umalusi convened standardisation of exams on 24 December to ensure the quality of results is the same as in other years."

The department's determination to change the status quo of previous results which were in decline, says Motshekga, came from the recognition that education was the driver of national change and played an important role in improving people's lives.

Pass rates for the provinces were also encouraging in 2010, with all registering an improvement from the previous year.

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Johannesburg, Professor Sarah Gravett, says while experts expected an improvement, they did not expect to see such a “significant jump”.

“The interventions from the department of education are starting to bear fruit which is good,” she says. “We’re in the third year of this exam and there seems to be a better understanding from teachers. There were also exam papers from two years ago that assisted learners in preparation for their exams last year,” explains Gravett.

She says the matric results don’t only reflect the matric year, but reflect the 12 years of schooling and therefore if the department wants to see enduring change in the education system, there must be a strong focus on the early years of schooling to ensure that a solid foundation is created.

“……and the interventions that have been put in place in the past few years in schools, particularly those schools with weak results, seem to be bearing fruit. One would expect the department to continue with these types of interventions and support.

“It’s a pity that we see only the matric results as an indication of how well our schooling system is doing. That’s not the only indicator. One should look at the marks, yes, but also look at the quality of the learners that come out of the system and how well they cope with the post school demands,” she says.

Chief research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Michael Cosser, said while the World Cup and the strike had an impact on many, the department of education ensured that education was still a priority.

“This has been a long time coming and it is because of the concerted focus on education,” he says. “When the new curriculum was introduced, things were a bit shaky, but things are beginning to stabilise. We will see in the next two years how things progress.”

Cosser cautions that the chances of this year’s matric pupils getting into the job market were quite poor. In 2006, Cosser found that only 21 percent of those who passed matric were able to enter the job market.

He urged those who were unable to get into higher education institutions to go through further education and training facilities to boost their chances of getting employment.

Professor Zola Vakalisa, from the School of Arts, Education Languages and Communication at the University of South Africa (Unisa), says it is important for the department to monitor schools throughout the year to ensure that marks, even in the foundation phases, improve.

She adds that South Africa has the capacity and facilities to improve its education system compared to other African countries.

“This jump is incredible. But the department still needs to monitor its teachers and ensure that they are at school teaching our children. Parents also need to be given the opportunity to sit through lessons and understand what their children are being taught. There are still challenges that need to be addressed and if they are not, we will be doing our children a disservice, especially those from poor families,” says Vakalisa.

According to Dr Vijay Reddy, head of the research programme on Education and Skills Development at the HSRC, far more detail is still needed to understand and better analyse the results.

“We need to look at the technical report in an effort to understand the reasons for this massive improvement,” she says.

“Between 2002 and 2004, the pass rate stood at 70 and 71 percent and between 2005 and 2009, there was a major decrease. Looking at the whole system, we expected an increase of 1 to 2 percent. We need to look at how this increase of 7.2 percent occurred,” says Reddy.

This significant increase could be attributed to a number of factors, says Reddy, that of a massive improvement in the education system and the fact that education has been made a priority by government and society.

“This was a complete surprise, so the technical report will give us a better understanding of the results and why this big jump occurred,” she explains. - BuaNews

Pretoria – The 2010 matric results are an indication that South Africa’s education system is on the right track, says President Jacob Zuma. “We are...

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Pretoria – With 836 distinctions from its 345 matriculants, pupils and teachers screamed with delight and congratulated each other at Hoerskool...

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Pretoria - Gauteng learners have come out tops in the country, leading as the province with the best National Senior Certificate results in 2010....

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Pretoria – South Africans have a reason to be proud of the Class of 2010, who have recorded a pass rate of 67.8 percent.

An elated Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, announced the results on Thursday at the Union Buildings.

This is a major improvement of 7.2 percent from 2009’s 60.6 percent national pass rate.

“We’d like to congratulate the class of 2010, they did us proud! Their unrelenting determination is commendable,” said Motshekga.

“The class of 2010 is truly distinctive!”

Motshekga assured the nation of the credibility of the results, saying they were a true reflection of the achievement of learners.

“We’ve worked hard to ensure the credibility of the exams. Umalusi convened standardisation of exams on 24 December to ensure the quality of results is the same as in other years.”

She said the department’s determination to change the status quo of previous results which were in decline, came from the recognition that education was the driver of national change and played an important role in improving people’s lives.

Pass rates for the provinces were encouraging in 2010, with all registering an improvement from the previous year:

Gauteng: 78.6% (71.8% in 2009)
Western Cape: 76.8% (75.7% in 2009)
North West: 75.7% (67.5% in 2009)
Northern Cape: 72.3% (61% in 2009)
KwaZulu-Natal: 70.7% (61.1% in 2009)
Free State: 70.7% (69.4% in 2009)
Eastern Cape: 58.3% (51% in 2009)
Limpopo: 57.9% (48.9% in 2009)
Mpumalanga: 56.8% (47.9% in 2009)

Musina - School leavers have until Wednesday to apply for study bursaries at the Musina local municipality in Limpopo.Last year, 59 bursaries were...

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Pretoria - Learners who wrote their 2010 final exams under the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) had reason to smile on Tuesday, with more than 98 percent passing their exams.

A 98.38 percent pass rate was achieved in the 2010 IEB National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams - an increase of one percent from the previous year, IEB chief executive Anne Oberholzer said.

In 2010, a total of 8 285 pupils from 172 schools wrote the IEB exams.

The majority of those who passed - 81.53 percent - qualified for entry to degree study, 14.45 percent for diploma study and 2.4 percent qualified to study at the higher certificate level.

Oberholzer noted that there had also been an increase in the number of pupils writing Mathematics Paper 3 among the IEB pupils.

“Since the inception of the NSC in 2008, participation in Mathematics Paper 3 at the IEB has increased by 68.5 percent from 1 414 candidates in 2008 to 2 383 candidates in 2010.”

Oberholzer said the IEB was proud of the pupils’ achievements, adding that the high pass rate was a reflection of the teachers’ dedication in ensuring pupils were inspired and had the necessary knowledge to succeed.

“They reflect too the amount of work that learners have done to ensure that they know and understand the important aspects of the subjects they have studied. Their education, as reflected in their results, ensures them of a successful future in their selected areas of study or occupation,” she added.

Meanwhile, Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile said pupils had done the municipality proud with the matriculants at four schools - St George's, St Dominic's, St Mark's and Woodbridge - achieving a 98 percent pass rate.

“We look forward to the rest of the matriculation marks [which will be released on Thursday, 6 January 2011]. Whilst we acknowledge that these marks may not necessarily emulate those of the IEB schools, we remain hopeful that they will be as positive as can be expected,” he added. - BuaNews