Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma has warned that there should be consequences for schools who continue to produce a zero percent pass rate for their matric results.
"When I see those school I ask myself what they were doing from January to November" Zuma told delegates at a Basic Education sector lekgotla held at the St George Hotel in Irene.
The gathering attended by MECs, Head Of Departments, provincial teachers and unions is aimed looking at the country's education system, its past, current challenges and future solutions.
Further highlighting the dismal performance by some of the country's high schools and its grade 12 learners, Zuma said: "We must not allow any room in the public service for ineptitude and incompetence. Everyone must strive for excellence, more so in education."
He told those at the meeting that government declared education an apex priority of the democratic Government in 2009, adding education was the ladder out of poverty and economic stagnation.
"It is our primary weapon in the struggle for economic transformation, and in the quest for a better life for our people, especially the poor. It is for this reason that education gets the biggest slice of the national budget."Zuma described the gathering as important saying the sector met because it cares about education, the well-being of children and the youth. "We will always prioritise the education of our children, because it is only through quality education that we can win our struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality," he said.He added that the gathering was also dedicated to the late ANC President and one of the key architects of the country's freedom and democracy Oliver Tambo. "President Oliver Tambo is celebrated for his exceptional leadership qualities and for providing direction during the darkest years of the struggle for liberation. Importantly, he (President Tambo) was also a teacher.... He taught Physics and Mathematics for five years." He said government therefore encouraged all teachers to honour, protect and advance Tambo's legacy as an outstanding educator.
Despite much controversy around the state of many rural schools and delays in the delivery of textbooks every year, Zuma pointed out that government had made strides in providing state of the art facilities in area such as the Eastern Cape, Western Caoe and said the school nutritional programmes had been expanded and now benefits up to 9 million children at high and primary schools every day.
He reiterated that government pays for textbooks and that administrators must ensure that these books reach children on time every year. And while South Africa has been ranked last in the world when it comes to the quality of Maths and Science, Zuma said more needs to be done to improve learner outcomes in Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting and Languages.
"More children must be encouraged to take these subjects, and more teachers must be trained to teach these subjects. The Basic Education Department is working on these matters," he said, adding, equally, more focus needs to be placed on improving children's reading and literacy skills, saying TV should not take up children's reading time.
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