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Principals of 70 Mpumalanga schools are in trouble – they could be axed if less than 60% of their Grade 12 pupils passed.
Mpumalanga’s education MEC, Reginah Mhaule, issued the stern warning when she presented the province’s matric results for 2015 during a ceremony in the town of Amsterdam.
The provincial pass rate of the 2015 class was 78.6%, down from the previous rate of 79%. In Mpumalanga, 54 980 pupils sat for their exams and 43 229 passed.
“Although we had directed that there should be no school obtaining below 60% in 2015,” Mhaule said, “70 schools are still trapped in that category.”
“Principals of these schools must, as we speak, prepare convincing motivations on why they should be retained in their positions,” she added.
Mhaule said that although the overall pass rate declined, the province still produced 7614 more pupils who passed than in 2014.
In Mpumalanga:
- Of the 545 schools that administered matric exams, 24 obtained a 100% pass rate;
- Hoërskool Nelspruit retained the number-one position as the best-performing school and all its 251 matriculants passed;
- Ehlanzeni district recorded the highest pass rate in the province: 82.39%;
- Ten schools had at least 50 pupils who scored 50% and above in mathematics; and
- More than 100 pupils at Hoërskool Nelspruit passed with at least 50% in mathematics.
Mhaule said the Mpumalanga Grade 12 examinations were reliable and credible for the sixth year in succession with no incidents of cheating.
However, she said that papers were allegedly leaked in other provinces and there three pupils were being investigated in Mpumalanga. Seven cases of group copying, Mhaule said, were also being investigated.
“This does not in any way suggest that there were leakages in the province. The provincial irregularities committee has begun investigating these and seven cases have already been cleared,” Mhaule added.
