Confusion has arisen over the pass rate at a rural Eastern Cape school where only 200 of 700 matriculants passed – but the school claims double the number, 1400, actually wrote the exam.
Wisizwi Billie, principal of Ngangolwandle Senior Secondary school in the Dutywa district of education said the published results were for only some pupils in his matric class of 2016.
According to the results released by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Wednesday, Ngangolwandle only managed a matric pass rate of 28%.
This was in stark contrast to claims by Billie, who told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that the 28% reflected by the department was only for “a section” of pupils registered at the school.
The Daily Dispatch reported earlier this year that the Elliotdale-based school, regarded as one of the best-performing schools in the Dutywa district, had more than 3000 pupils registered on its books. Among those were more than 1000 matric pupils.
As a result of the large numbers, hundreds of pupils including grade 10s, 11s and matriculants were forced to sit in the scorching heat or the cold wind due to a shortage of classrooms.
The Dispatch story revealed how classrooms were so overcrowded that some pupils had to stand outside while copying notes from the board inside.
Billie told the Dispatch yesterday that departmental authorities in the province had managed to offer the school prefabs towards the end of the year, which alleviated the problem of overcrowding. Speaking on the matric results, however, he had a different version to that of the department.
He claimed that because of the school’s huge Grade 12 numbers, matric hopefuls were divided into “two” schools. “We had School A and School B,” he said.
“A second centre number was created so that they could write their exams.”
He claimed that of 706 Grade 12s from “School A” only 200 had passed. This represented a 28% pass rate. He claimed 726 Grade 12s in “School B” sat for the exams and 51% passed.
He said when the pass rates from the two “schools” were combined, there was a large drop from the 64% pass rate achieved in 2015.
He argued only results from “School A” had appeared in the Dispatch matric supplement yesterday. “Basically there were a lot of factors that contributed to the drop, including the fact that there was no schooling for a month due to community service delivery protests around Elliotdale.
“Also, Grade 12 pupils themselves had gone on a protest after hearing that they would be divided into two schools. If it were not for those challenges, we would have done better,” claimed Billie.
However, according to the department, about 313 pupils wrote matric exams in Ngangolwandle in 2014 and 230 passed, amounting to a 69.5% pass rate.
Officially, in 2015, 648 wrote and 415 passed, translating into a 64% pass rate. In 2016, the government said 707 pupils wrote and only 200 passed, which plunged the pass rate to 28% – a loss of 35.8 percentage points.
Provincial education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani could not be reached for comment yesterday. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
School says results are incomplete
Wisizwi Billie, principal of Ngangolwandle Senior Secondary school in the Dutywa district of education said the published results were for only some pupils in his matric class of 2016.
According to the results released by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Wednesday, Ngangolwandle only managed a matric pass rate of 28%.
This was in stark contrast to claims by Billie, who told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that the 28% reflected by the department was only for “a section” of pupils registered at the school.
The Daily Dispatch reported earlier this year that the Elliotdale-based school, regarded as one of the best-performing schools in the Dutywa district, had more than 3000 pupils registered on its books. Among those were more than 1000 matric pupils.
As a result of the large numbers, hundreds of pupils including grade 10s, 11s and matriculants were forced to sit in the scorching heat or the cold wind due to a shortage of classrooms.
The Dispatch story revealed how classrooms were so overcrowded that some pupils had to stand outside while copying notes from the board inside.
Billie told the Dispatch yesterday that departmental authorities in the province had managed to offer the school prefabs towards the end of the year, which alleviated the problem of overcrowding. Speaking on the matric results, however, he had a different version to that of the department.
He claimed that because of the school’s huge Grade 12 numbers, matric hopefuls were divided into “two” schools. “We had School A and School B,” he said.
“A second centre number was created so that they could write their exams.”
He claimed that of 706 Grade 12s from “School A” only 200 had passed. This represented a 28% pass rate. He claimed 726 Grade 12s in “School B” sat for the exams and 51% passed.
He said when the pass rates from the two “schools” were combined, there was a large drop from the 64% pass rate achieved in 2015.
He argued only results from “School A” had appeared in the Dispatch matric supplement yesterday. “Basically there were a lot of factors that contributed to the drop, including the fact that there was no schooling for a month due to community service delivery protests around Elliotdale.
“Also, Grade 12 pupils themselves had gone on a protest after hearing that they would be divided into two schools. If it were not for those challenges, we would have done better,” claimed Billie.
However, according to the department, about 313 pupils wrote matric exams in Ngangolwandle in 2014 and 230 passed, amounting to a 69.5% pass rate.
Officially, in 2015, 648 wrote and 415 passed, translating into a 64% pass rate. In 2016, the government said 707 pupils wrote and only 200 passed, which plunged the pass rate to 28% – a loss of 35.8 percentage points.
Provincial education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani could not be reached for comment yesterday. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos