Durban - UNIONS have hailed the declaration by Umalusi, the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training, that matric exams in KwaZulu-Natal had proceeded without any systematic irregularities, was an indication of the commitment of teachers.
Umalusi, which oversees the quality of matric exams, gave the green light for Thursday’s release of the National Senior Certificate examination results.
The same applied to the exams of the Independent Examinations Board (IEB), which was commended for successfully conducting “credible examinations”.
The SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) in KwaZulu-Natal said it had long declared that the exams were free of irregularities.
“We are excited by the news and the declaration by Umalusi. The union played its part, working with the department to talk to our teachers and pupils about irregularities since 2014, and we are happy that this year there were none,” said spokesperson Nomarashiya Caluza.
“Sadtu was part of the monitoring of the exams and marking centres.”
She said teachers worked hard since the beginning of the year to ensure they completed their work timeously and prepared pupils for the exams.
“When we had our matric awards in February, we encouraged principals to keep moving up.
“We started our own matric intervention programme with a team of specialists in different subjects.
“The declaration by Umalusi gives us confidence that the results will increase again; our KZN graph is moving up,” said Caluza. The province achieved a 72.87% pass rate last year, compared to 2016’s 66.40%.
The Umgungundlovu District topped the chart with a pass rate of 81.51%, while Zululand was last, with 64.83%.
The province has set the bar higher this year, aiming for a 10% increase in the pass rate from last year, to 83%.
A total of 796542 full-time and part-time pupils wrote the National Senior Certificate exams, while 12372 sat for the IEB exams.
According to Basic Education Department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga, it was the first time in five years that no paper was leaked, while all irregularities experienced were resolved.
Scelo Bhengu, of the Educators’ Union of South Africa, said that no irregularities indicated that teachers had done good work in preparing pupils.
He said teachers at rural and poor schools had to put in extra effort.
“Although without the resources such as science labs and libraries, rural and poor township schools worked under poor conditions and still managed to contribute to quality exams. It is unfair that pupils at these schools wrote the same paper as the pupils in rich and resourceful schools.
“The overcrowding of their classrooms is not being addressed, and yet these schools are part of the statistics. While our teachers continue to strive against all odds, we encourage them to keep doing what they do, to provide quality education to the nation,” he said.
Bhengu said the department should take the issue of classroom overcrowding seriously.
He called for a teacher:pupil ratio of 1:30 to improve education and the quality of matric results