The SACP Gauteng Province congratulates the 2014 matriculants
8 January 2015
The SACP Gauteng Province congratulates the matric class of 2014 for their achievements in the national senior certificate final examinations. We specifically recognise the improvement in the quality of the results. This improvement can be attributed to admirable progress by students from poor, working class families in townships and informal areas who performed excellently despite their persisting conditions of poverty. In our view, this pattern marks a decisive break with the apartheid legacy of colonial apartheid Bantu education, affirming progress in the new national democratic education system.
Gauteng learners are particularly discernible across the country for an exceptional 84.7% pass rate, which is the highest across the country. The SACP congratulates the Gauteng province and in particular MEC of Education Comrade Panyaza Lesufi for presiding over such excellence. We agree with his sentiments that the next target must be set at 100% pass rate.
We also congratulate all the teachers, professionals and parents who have all contributed to improved results. In particular, we congratulate the progressive teachers union and our ally, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), for their commitment in ensuring that lower ranked schools in Quintiles 1,2 and 3 (mainly townships and informal settlements schools) achieve improved results. We concur with SADTU that the results debunks the myth that schools in working class communities do not have the capacity to perform to required standard. To the contrary, given the same resources and opportunities, we are confident that our learners from the working class background can perform the same as the best resourced schools.
The 2014 matric results should animate us to confront the issue of transformation of education. It is our view that henceforth, attention should be paid not only to quality but specifically to the content of the curricula, closing the qualitative and quantitative gap between poor township based schools and those in former white areas. The roll out of additional support deserves to be deepened in these schools and more educational infrastructure ought to be dispensed. The SACP is still convinced that the current educational methods, should content with innovative introduction of critical thought through the introduction of subjects such as philosophy in schools and the need to codify into a coherent discipline, the political history of our country, so that education is less depended on the capitalist ruling class.
We call on universities and colleges under leadership of our General Secretary, Dr Blade Nzimande, to create opportunities for these students to acquire further quality education with the active support of the democratic state.
We remain deeply opposed to private, parasitic and monopoly practices by big capital in relation to school books, uniforms, stationery, transport, equipment and provision of every form of services in education. All in all education should be liberated from the control of the capitalist class and put in the service of the rest of society.
Lastly, we take this opportunity to congratulate the Young Communist League of South Africa and other Progressive Youth Alliance structures for championing the struggle for non-publishing of the names of matriculants in newspapers. We hope this is a building block towards a total blackout as matric results should remain confidential to the learner.
Issued on behalf of the SACP Gauteng Province
Contact:
Jacob Mamabolo: Provincial Secretary: 082 884 1868
Lucian Segami: Provincial Spokesperson: 079 522 0098
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Twitter: SACP Gauteng
