30 December 2003
The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes the continued increase in the matric pass rate (from just above 68% last year to above 73% this year) which represents a marked improvement of 4,4 percentage points of the 2003 matric results. We wish to congratulate all the 2003 matriculants, particularly those who have performed well. We also wish to congratulate the Minister of Education, Prof Kader Asmal, the National and Provincial Departments of Education for the sterling work they have done to ensure a successful matric exam for 2003.
These improvements show that as a country and as government we are steadily making progress in bringing about stability into our education system and are firmly putting in place the building blocks for a truly non-racial system of education in our country. The SACP also appreciates the improvement in results from poorer provinces and schools.
As the SACP we particularly appreciate the efforts of the parents, many of whom are workers and the poor of our country, for their sacrifices and support to our youngsters. Without their sacrifices, in the face of sometimes enormous difficulties, we would not be seeing this improvement. We also salute the efforts of our teachers, many of whom teach under the most difficult conditions without the necessary facilities and resources. It is for this reason that we appreciate the steady improvement of the performance in our poorest provinces and some of our poor schools.
However this success comes with enormous challenges and responsibilities. As the SACP we are concerned that one of the single biggest gaps in our education system is the failure to provide further education and training opportunities for those learners who failed or did not get an endorsement in their matric. Our higher education institutions are also still failing to address this very serious challenge - essentially one of the key priorities in our education system. Many of our higher education institution still continue to cherry pick the best of the matriculants thus leaving thousands each year with no opportunities to further their education.
It is our belief as the SACP that many of those matriculants that do not pass or get an endorsement do have academic potential, as has been demonstrated by a number of alternative selection programmes developed by some of our higher education institutions particularly in the early 1990s. We therefore call upon a systematic development of alternative selection methods as a matter of urgent priority, and both government and institutions of higher education have an urgent responsibility in this regard.
It is our continued concern that many of the matriculants are not going to get employment given our high rates of unemployment and the job loss bloodbath. We therefore call upon the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to expedite programmes to address the issues of, amongst others, learnerships and further training opportunities for our school leavers. In this context, as a country, if we are to stem the tide of increased unemployment amongst our youth, particularly school leavers, we need to accelerate the implementation of the Growth and Development Summit Resolutions. Private capital also has an important role to play in providing more learnerships and other training opportunities, if we are to reduce unemployment in our country.