Johannesburg - Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi will not be firing any of his district directors just yet.
And the head of department (HoD), Boy Ngobeni, appeared to dodge the bullet, and only some district heads will be called to account.
In October, Lesufi announced that he had signed a performance agreement with Ngobeni and all 15 district offices in the country.
He said at the time that if any of them dropped by even 1 percentage point in the 2014 matric exams, a resignation letter needed to be handed in.
Although Gauteng was the top-performing province, 11 out of the 15 districts had dropped in performance.
“I’ve signed a performance agreement with the premier and I’ve also signed with the HoD,” he said on Tuesday after the announcement of the Gauteng matric results for 2014.
Lesufi said they had an urgent management meeting on Monday and discussed the agreement.
“But there are processes that need to be followed. You don’t just wake up in the morning and fire somebody.”
He said Ngobeni was drafting a report, and appropriate action would then be taken.
Lesufi added that two districts had been identified as needing support in changing their leadership. “We believe they need assistance. There are processes that the HoD is dealing with.”
During his speech at the Wits School of Education on Tuesday, Lesufi said the results were an affirmation that the correct path had been taken towards becoming the best in the world.
“Quality education is a human right. It provides the foundation for equity in society and is one of the most basic public services. It empowers citizens and enables them to contribute to the maximum extent possible to social and economic development.”
Lesufi said that for Gauteng specifically, he wanted to focus on equal education for all pupils, regardless of skin colour. “It is not where you are born that determines your destiny in life; it must be the quality of education that you access that must determine your destiny.”
The class of 2014 is the first to write the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement programme since its implementation in Grade 10.
Lesufi said Gauteng reclaiming the number one spot and its top pass rate were indicative of the quality of education in the province. Among the five top-performing districts, Gauteng occupied four spots.
“We want to demonstrate to the world that our results in Gauteng are results with one intention - to break the shackles of poverty and ensure our young ones don’t survive on social grants, but survive on their skills,” he said.
Gauteng West was the best-performing district in the country with 92.7 percent from 90.1 percent in 2013. Overall, 13 out of the 15 districts achieved above 80 percent and the other two 70 and 79 percent.
Lesufi said the six schools accused of group cheating would be investigated. Five of the schools are independent.
The Star