INLSA
Bonisiwe Langa, 18, from Newcastle, obtained five As, despite attending a school, Thathunyawo High, that lacked resources, including a computer laboratory and properly equipped science lab.
Kamini Padayachee, Gugu Mbonambi and Leanne Jansen
TWENTY-SEVEN of KwaZulu-Natal’s poorest schools pulled off an impressive achievement in the 2011 matric exams, recording a 100 percent pass rate, despite having few resources and limited infrastructure.
Provincial education superintendent-general Nkosinathi Sishi said yesterday that schools in quintile one and two (poorer areas) normally performed worse than schools in the other quintiles, but this trend was changing.
“It is inspiring to see schools in quintile one performing well and getting 100 percent pass rates. It means that the additional resources the department is putting into these schools is making a difference.”
Facilities
Quintile one also had the highest number of schools with 100 percent pass rates. The second-highest number, 22 schools, was in quintile five. The quintile system was introduced in 2006 and refers to a poverty score that the department allocates to schools, from one to five.
Quintile one schools are in the poorest areas and generally have inadequate resources and infrastructure. Quintile five schools are in affluent areas and have better facilities.
Sishi said quintile five schools should be performing on a par with private schools as they had about the same amount of resources.
The department would be looking closely at the 12 quintile five schools that had achieved pass rates of less than 70 percent.
Bonisiwe Langa, who hails from Amajuba district, was among nine top achievers from poor schools in the province. She obtained five As despite the inadequate resources and adverse learning conditions at her school.
According to Bonisiwe, 18, her school, Thathunyawo High School in Newcastle, which is ranked in quintile two, does not have a computer laboratory and its physical science laboratory is pitiful.
“We only used textbooks and never performed any science experiments – we only read about how they were done. Our school lacks basic facilities, but we had dedicated teachers who encouraged us to excel,” she said.
Bonisiwe is to study law at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is the youngest of seven children and says her parents were unemployed.
Education authorities have agreed that matric achievements have less to do with affluence and more with excellent teachers who work with willing pupils and supportive parents.
Anthony Pierce, the provincial CEO of the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa, said that matric results performance could be attributed largely to the attitude and efforts of the pupils, teachers and parents rather than the school’s quintile.
Trevor Bennison, KZN head of the Governing Body Foundation, agreed that performance and quintiles were not necessarily related. He said leadership, management and teachers played a significant, if not a determining, role.
Mbuyiseni Mathonsi, provincial secretary of the SA Democratic Teachers Union, lauded KZN teachers who, with little or no resources, had produced star pupils.
“The teachers working in rural areas went all-out – those working in schools in quintiles one to three.”
Doron Isaacs, co-ordinator of Equal Education, said high quintiles did not mean the schools had a lot of resources. Several schools complained of incorrect rankings.
