Calls mount for functionality visits at KZN's worst performing schools

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Published Jan 14, 2018

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Durban - The Democratic Alliance has appealed to the KwaZulu-Natal legislature's education portfolio committee chairperson to include 13 chronically under-performing schools on the 2018 schools functionality oversight visits by MPLs this coming week.

"The request comes after it was revealed that only three of the schools, all of which have scored below 40 percent in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) for at least the last five years, and some for as long as eight years, have made it onto the 2018 functionality visits," DA MPL Rishigen Viranna said on Sunday.

"Even more concerning was that none of these schools had been visited by the legislature during the current term. The list of schools was sent to the chairperson last week. Regrettably, it appears our request has fallen on deaf ears with only Mshiyane High, Sizamiseni Secondary, and Dumaphansi Junior Secondary scheduled for visits. This is simply not good enough," Viranna said.

The legislature had a constitutional and moral mandate to investigate these schools. They had continuously failed the pupils they were supposed to serve. Their ongoing under-performance was indicative of both structural, administrative, and teaching deficiencies.

"The DA will insist that the remaining 10 schools form part of next week’s oversight visits. It is still within the legislature’s authority to add these schools onto the programme. This has happened before."

"We remain committed to fighting for quality educational opportunities for all learners, in particular those in often forgotten poor rural areas. South Africa cannot afford to create a lost generation of young people," Viranna said.

African News Agency/ANA

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