Gauteng township schools make great strides in matric, says Lesufi

05 January 2018 - 12:05 By Nomahlubi Jordaan
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Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi. File photo
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi. File photo
Image: VATHISWA RUSELO

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says township schools have made great strides academically and have outdone independent schools in the province's matric results.

Speaking at the announcement of matric results for 2017 in the province on Friday‚ Lesufi encouraged struggling parents to take their children to township schools.

"Township schools are closing the gap. One is very proud when you have township schools performing well. If you are an unemployed parent‚ your child stands a better chance of doing well at a township school.

"The problem with parents not enrolling their children in township schools is the issue of perceptions about those schools."

Lesufi said the bulk of learners who performed poorly in matric came from independent schools.

"This is a problem. Some learners from those schools did not even write matric‚" Lesufi said.

He said the province‚ which achieved an 85.1% pass rate‚ could have done better.

"If there was an opportunity for us to be number one. This was it‚ but we understand that we made drastic changes this year. We introduced Schools of Specialisation‚ we eradicated chalk and talk‚ we got new infrastructure and we introduced twinning of schools."


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