KZN education department confident of achieving 80% matric pass rate

The KwaZulu-Natal department of education is confident of achieving no less than an 80% matric pass rate for the class of 2022.

This was announced by MEC Mbali Frazer during a media briefing on the province’s state of readiness for the exams.

Frazer said the department was ready to administer the examinations for the biggest examination system in the country with 198,000 fulltime and part-time candidates.

“We will have 6,022 invigilators in 1,780 centres. The distribution of examinations will be done through 13 points and 103 distribution and collection centres. We will print 120 questions papers, which will total 24-million pages. There will be 28 morning and 27 afternoon sessions,” she said.

She said they had been very optimistic of a smooth year after the pandemic had affected their preparations in previous years. She admitted  that unforeseen circumstances such as the April floods meant they had to slightly adjust their expectations.

“It is important to note that we aim to ensure that we pass all candidates who sit for the final exam, however, there are factors which sometimes make it difficult to pass all our learners,” she said.

That is why an improvement on last year’s pass percentage, at least, is among the department’s objectives this year.

“To ensure the class of 2022 was ready and sharp for their exams, we developed the 2022 academic improvement plan whose objectives were to improve the pass percentage from 76.8% to a minimum of 80%,” said Frazer.

“Other objectives included: increasing the number of schools obtaining 100% pass rates, improving bachelor passes by 20% and improving passes in mathematics, science and other technical subjects. We want to improve the quality and quantity of passes in home languages and to increase the percentage of the distinctions in each of the NSC subjects.”

Frazer said the elimination of schools which performed at 40% was also a main target. "We want to improve the performance of learners in special schools and with special needs, among many other objectives which we have worked hard to achieve.”

She said the province planned accountability sessions for all the schools that obtained less than a 40% pass rate during the 2021 examinations. Frazer said 64 schools from 11 districts took part in the sessions, with the Ugu district the only one that did not have a school that got less than a 40% pass rate.

The department hosted winter classes in June and July to ensure that all teaching was completed by the end of August.

She acknowledged that the province was not without its challenges, including the devastating floods that destroyed, among other things, school infrastructure and saw pupils lose their learning and teaching time.

“We had to make sure that the recovery plan was put in place, including moving learners to alternative schools. We ensured that learners whose families were housed in community shelters were placed in nearby schools. Learning losses were identified and teachers worked tirelessly to make up time between April and June 2022,” she said.

Dr Raymond Penniston, KZN chief director of examination assessments and quality assessment, said the schools affected by the floods were now able to conduct the exams and that the department would have sufficient transport for the learners to be able to write their exams.

Penniston couldn’t give assurances that load-shedding would not affect examinations, highlighting that it was a national issue that the department had no control over.

“This morning, the national chief director for examinations and assessment had a meeting with Eskom and we were pleading for load-shedding to at least cease for the next two days – because today we were writing CAT and tomorrow it’s information technology – and they bluntly told us that they cannot do that. If they did,  there would be total darkness in the country,” he said.

To mitigate that he said there would be two sessions of writing and that they had encouraged schools with generators to have them in place and ready to work.

Frazer said they couldn’t pre-empt what would happen with load-shedding but did confirm that basic education minister Angie Motshekga was communicating with Eskom to find a solution.

She appealed to communities to stop destroying school infrastructure when they felt aggrieved by service-delivery shortcomings.

“Our children must not be denied of their right to education because of conflicts that have nothing to do with them,” she said.

Meanwhile, the IFP turned its focus to what happens after the exams. 

The party said amid the scourge of gender-based violence and human trafficking, it wanted Frazer to put an end to “pens down" festivities in the province.

These events are a common feature after year-end exams. The party’s spokesperson on education, Thembeni Mthethwa, called for the permanent abolishment of such activities, adding that entertainment venues such as clubs and taverns were bracing themselves for “pens down" events.

She was of the view that although completion of exams called for celebration youths ought to put their safety first as they have the rest of their lives to live.

She said unsuspecting youths were targeted by human traffickers at times, with pupils and university students going missing at this time.

She urged young people to be cautious about falling prey to individuals or companies offering them lucrative jobs. "Media have been reporting on these incidents. At times victims are found dead,” said Mthethwa.

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