SADTU EASTERN CAPE CONGRATULATES THE MATRIC CLASS OF 2023
24 January 2024
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) in the Eastern Cape Province joins the rest of the citizens of the province in celebrating the spectacular performance of the matric learners who wrote the NSC examinations in 2023.
The remarkable performance of 81,4% demonstrates the provincial education system that has evolved over time and is characterized by relative stability in the sector. Relative stability is as a result of prompt policy implementation, honest and robust engagements with labour unions, implementation of decisions agreed upon on strategic sessions. We salute all the Grade 12 learners and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
We also applaud our educators across the grades for their immeasurable commitment and efforts that have consistently produced good results in the province. Grade 12 is a culmination of 12 years of schooling in the Basic Education Sector and each grade has its own contribution towards the performance in Grade 12. All stakeholders including office-based educators, SGB formations, faith-based organizations, house of traditional leaders and parents at large are applauded for their contribution to stabilizing our schools, ensuring effective teaching, and learning.
We are also moved by the spectacular performance of our rural and township schools. These are mostly quintile 1 to 3 schools that continue to produce good results consistently over the years. We also take pride in knowing that the best performing district in the province is a rural district, being Alfred Nzo East. This proves our assertion that continued support of our rural and township schools will always yield these positive results.
We also note with appreciation the quality of results with an increased number of bachelors passes that continues to improve. The province has always produced good and quality results all the years.
We note that these results are achieved by our educators under difficult conditions. Our educators abandon the comfort of their families, sacrifice weekends and holidays to be with the learners. They work under difficult circumstances with no support in some instances. Some learners have to travel long distances to school with no scholar transport. Some come from child headed households and have to carry the burden of looking after their siblings. We also salute those learners who went against such odds.
To those learners who could not make it we say, “FAIL,” is nothing but a First Attempt in Life. Akulahlwa mbeleko ngakufelwa. Pick up your pieces and register for the mid-year examinations. Time is still on your side.
We urge the department to continue investing in the foundation and senior phases of the system. We are also pleased that once again the Minister declared and committed publicly that Grade R will be compulsory. This says a lot in terms of the conditions of service of these educators. We continue to witness cases of understaffing and inadequate provision of resources. This leads to the unfortunate incidents of learners not being taught certain learning areas properly. Teachers in these phases are over-worked. We urge the Honourable MEC and the HOD to relook the allocation of resources to these schools. We also urge the department to expedite the filling of all vacant posts in the system including the Office Based Posts. This will help to maintain the good foundation laid over the years. For sustenance of these results as a province, let us embrace and support the initiative of introducing African Languages in curriculum setup. Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education (MTBBE) is a basic tool in decolonizing education system in this country.
Lastly. We would like to commend our structures across all levels for the role they played in defence of our members from being abused by the ruthless officials of the department. You have ensured that policies are implemented without fear or favour.
We appreciate the cordial relations we have with the MEC and HOD of the department and wish to state that such relationships produced the results that we are celebrating today. We urge the department to build on the strong foundations laid and improve on that.
ISSUED BY : SADTU EC Provincial Secretariat