Principal explains why matric pass rate dropped by almost half to 34.1%

A principal has blamed the matric pass rate drop to just 34.1% at a technical high school in Khayelitsha on unsuitable teachers and a lack of support from provincial education authorities.

Sizimisele High School principal‚ Dominic Maruping‚ said during a visit to the school by International Relations Deputy Minister Nomaindia Mfeketo on Wednesday that this is why the pass rate had plummeted by almost half.

Maruping said that for the past three years his pupils had to "toyi-toyi" to the department of education to demand suitable teachers while three "surplus" teachers were paid to sit and do nothing at the school.

The school was converted to a technical school‚ at his request‚ by the department of education. But he complained of carrying the brunt of the burden of converting the school.

The school has three teachers who used to teach economics‚ consumer studies and English and accounting - paid for by the department. But they now had no classes after the switch.

Maruping said they wanted the department to take the teachers to schools where they could be of use and send much needed technical teachers to his school.

The school's matric pass rate dropped from 78.5% last year to 34.1%.

"We were promised that we were going to get support in doing so but‚ I must say‚ very little support came from the department. I have never converted a school before and I had to do it on my own‚" he said.

He said during the process‚ he had to phase out certain subjects leaving some teachers without classes.

But‚ he said‚ while the department continued to pay teachers that weren't needed at his school‚ students were in dire need of teachers to teach them technical subjects.

"It became a tradition of the school that we will start schooling without the (needed) teachers. You will start school without your engineering and graphics design teacher; you would start your school without your mechanical teacher and you will start school without your theory teacher‚" he said.

But‚ he said‚ the main reason results had dropped this year was because the school introduced maths as compulsory for all pupils so it could get support from the department as a technical school.

Maruping said his school‚ which is a no-fee school‚ went as far as asking parents to raise money to hire tutors for pupils but because they were catering for poor parents‚ by June 2016 they had to let them go because they didn't have enough money to keep up the payments.

Speaking to the media after meeting Maruping‚ Mfeketo said she chose the school because the drastic decline in results raised alarm bells about there being a bigger problem.

She said she was one of 200 public representatives visiting schools on day one of the 2017 school year.

"They need lots of intervention ... as you have heard they still have excess teachers who have no business being in this school‚” she said.

She said it was obvious that more resources were needed at the school and will report her findings to the Department of Basic Education.

- TMG Digital/Sunday Times