This, after learners in this mining town missed the fourth quarter of school last year when protests against service delivery broke out and led to the shutdown of schools and businesses. Community members in town went on the rampage calling for the resignation of Mayor Thandi Reachable on the grounds of poor service delivery, the high unemployment rate, and tender irregularities, amongst others. Learners in this town thus had to revise the missed fourth term’s work during the month of January before writing exams, which are expected to run until next week. The Free State Department of Education spokesperson, Howard Ndaba, previously told OFM News the issuing of reports will take place on February 26, while the 2019 curriculum is expected to kick off on the 1st of March.

Web: Parents at the Koffiefontein Combined Schools have lambasted the department for this decision after indications that all learners would be progressed to the next grade based on their Schools Based Assessment (SBA), commonly known as the year mark. Parents at the school have long expressed their dissatisfaction over the writing of examinations, stating that it would put learners and teachers under immense pressure to revise the whole year’s work and write all subjects within two weeks. They said the writing of these exams also poses questions as to whether the learners in this town would be able to finish the 2019 curriculum in due course.

Ndaba, however, said the SBAs could not be used to progress the learners to the next grade as these only amount to certain percentages in the different grades. He highlighted that grade 1-3 learners will not write exams because according to their policy, their SBAs count 100% and they are not compelled to write exams, while SBAs count 75% in grade 4-6, 60% in grade 7-9, but only 25% for grade 10-11.

He said they have noted the concerns raised by the parents regarding prolonged hours and pressure the learners will be subjected to, amongst other things, and that the department will be providing all schools in the town with psycho-socio support.

Ndaba said there will further be extra classes over the course of the year and he is certain the learners in Koffiefontein will be on par with other learners in the province by September.

The DA shadow minister of basic education, Nomsa Marchesi, has meanwhile expressed her support for concerns raised by the parents and indicated that she wrote to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, requesting her to intervene.

OFM News