Education MEC Pleased with Turnout at Holiday Programmes for Grade Twelves | Western Cape Government

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Education MEC Pleased with Turnout at Holiday Programmes for Grade Twelves

27 September 2010

This morning, Western Cape Education Minister Donald Grant visited a Grade 12 holiday camp at Chris Hani Secondary in Khayelitsha and a spring school programme at Manzomthombo Secondary in Mfuleni.

At Chris Hani Secondary, one hundred and twenty (120) learners from Chris Hani and Sinako Secondary participated in this morning's holiday camp, and were receiving extra tuition in Maths Literacy.

At Manzomthombo, one hundred and thirty-two (132) learners from the school were receiving tuition in Life Sciences, Accountancy, Mathematics and Geography. Both programmes began yesterday, and are set to continue until Friday.

Learners were receiving tuition from tutors selected by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). Tutors were selected based on their past academic performance.

"These programmes are just two of many developed by the WCED to offset the effects of the recent industrial action on our Grade 12s and to help improve learner outcomes in the province," said Grant.

"We have developed numerous holiday programmes for learners affected by the strike, including holiday camps, spring schools and tutoring and telematics programmes."

The majority of the programmes began yesterday, with districts reporting high turnout in both learners and educators.

"I am pleased that so many of our learners are taking advantage of this opportunity to receive extra tuition," Grant said.

"We have less then a month to go before the first theoretical paper and I want to encourage all Grade 12s to use every minute they can hitting their books and revision papers."

Grant said that he was also pleased to see the schools, educators and WCED officials working close together to achieve the same goal.

"Their enthusiasm is fantastic, and everyone is supporting one another with the goal of making a difference in these learners' lives."

Grant said that this year had been a challenge for many of our Grade 12 learners.

"There is no doubt that the extended June/July holiday and the recent strike impacted the pace and the continuity of teaching and learning. However, I am pleased that we have, from the very beginning of the school year, put in place programmes to assist our Grade 12s which have sought to minimise the effect of these disruptions to the school year. I am confident that we have done all we can to assist the Class of 2010, and will continue to do so up until the very last day of their examinations."

Grant said that this was the first year the Western Cape Education Department put in significant resources into the provision of additional assistance to Grade 12 learners.

"In January we set targets for each of our schools in the province, and developed detailed plans for schools that needed our support. Interventions included the strict monitoring of teacher and learner attendance, intensive management support from our district offices, subject specific support and tutoring programmes for schools with historically low pass rates and the delivery of fifteen thousand (15 000) additional textbooks in our top-up programme for Grade 12 learners in critical subject areas," he said.

"In the second term we intensified our efforts with the launch of the "Own YOUR future. Own YOUR success. Study hard to pass YOUR matric". This campaign encourages our Grade 12s to put maximum effort into your studies in the remaining months of their school career up to their final National Senior Certificate Examinations."

The campaign included - increasing the support given to all schools with passes below the provincial average by providing a tutoring programme for complex areas of the syllabus; a principal mentorship programme that provided much needed support to our underperforming schools, the roll-out of past examination papers; additional textbooks and after school, weekend and holiday classes.

"An Interactive Telematic Teaching programme, using satellite technology, the internet and cell phones was also rolled out, which has seen one hundred and twenty (120) schools benefit from expert tuition in subjects such as Mathematics, Physical Science, Life Sciences and Accounting," said Grant.

"Both learners and WCED officials were particularly excited about our "Tips for Success" booklet, which we launched in the second term, which gave our learners information on how to plan their revision programme, tips on how to study, how to remember what they have studied and how to write examinations successfully."

Grant said that programmes and resources would still be made available to schools that needed their support.

"We are here not just because of the strike, but because we care about their future. We want the Class of 2010 to achieve the best possible results they can, and we will continue to hold their hands up until the very last day."

Media Enquiries: 

Bronagh Casey
Spokesperson
Minister of Education, Donald Grant
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2377
Cell: 072 724 1422