The chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Bongiwe Mbingqo-Gigaba, says whilst the province saw a marked improvement in its 2021 matric results, the committee is of the view that if the Northern Cape wants to continue to produce high-achieving matriculants, they need to prioritise STEM subjects.

“We cannot want to perform in terms of the mandate, but we are not able to deliver quality at the end of the day,” says the committee chairperson.

The province’s Education MEC Zolile Monakali, the Committee on Education in the Provincial Legislature, organised labour, and the school's governing body (SGB) are on Thursday meeting with the members of parliament at the Duineveld High School in Upington. It is expected that aside from the aforementioned issues, the availability of learning materials, staff shortages, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will be areas of focus during this visit.

This Central South African province made the most significant improvement in its recent matric results for 2021 as compared to other provinces in the country. The Northern Cape’s matriculants managed to attain a 71,4% pass rate in 2021 as compared to 66% in 2020. Premier Zamani Saul has been quoted in national media publications, lamenting that this is still below the national average of 76,4%. The ZF Mgcawu District was the second-best performing district in the province with respect to matric results, with the Namakwa District achieving the highest pass rate at 81,2%. The Frances Baard District, where the committee is headed to on Friday, came in third.

OFM News also reported earlier that concerns were raised by the committee on the state of school infrastructure, in particular, a school in the ZF Mgcawu District Municipality which is presently renting property from a local famer in the area. Mbinqo-Gigaba says the school is unfortunately not well maintained and due to the rental situation, it isn’t clear whose responsibility it is to keep up the premises.

OFM News