North West Premier, Job Mokgoro, has congratulated the Grade 12 class of 2020, who managed to defy the odds and attain a 76.2% pass rate.
“I am buoyed by the fact that out of 433 schools that taught Grade 12 in the North West in 2020, 288 schools [achieved] 70% and beyond. This shows quality performance against all odds,” Mokgoro said.
Addressing the hybrid sitting of the North West Provincial Legislature on Thursday, Mokgoro congratulated Jana Geyser from Rustenburg High School, who obtained seven distinctions, attaining above 90% in all her subjects to become the best Grade 12 learner in the province.
Mokgoro said to ensure that teachers and learners are better equipped to meaningfully participate in the 4IR, robotics and coding, the roll out of connectivity remains paramount.
“To this extent, we are increasing access to the internet through broadband and Wi-Fi connection from the current 25% of our learners to 75% by the end of the 2021 academic year.
“In addition, we are extending access to broadband and Wi-Fi connection to non-teaching staff, such as cleaners in our schools, to enable them to participate in online classes and homework for their own studies, especially in previously disadvantaged communities,” Mokgoro said.
Mokgoro said the province is intensively promoting maths and science in schools, as well as fast tracking reading revolution programmes.
Mokgoro said three additional schools in the province will increase enrolment of learners in the agriculture learning areas, so as to ensure that learners leave school with skills required in the farming sector and business in general.
“This would in turn encourage young people to participate in food production and create jobs in the farming sector,” Mokgoro said.
Mokgoro said the outbreak of COVID-19 came with new protocols, among them that learners and teachers had to maintain social distancing.
“This implied that more classrooms would be needed. Greater effort should be given to providing running water for all schools. Proper fencing will be required, and appropriate sanitation facilities are a must. We do this because the safety of learners is of paramount importance to us.”
Mokgoro said to ensure the security of learners and teachers, 87 fencing projects have been completed and 27 are under construction.
“We will be providing 95 more schools with fencing in the 2021/22 financial year. Furthermore, in order to restore the dignity of our learners and educators, appropriate sanitation facilities have been provided,” Mokgoro said.
He assured that work is underway to extend the provision of water and sanitation to more schools in need. – SAnews.gov.za
