As most of you with children at school in South Africa will know, RSA's Education system is in a mess... Just look at this report on the poor matric results for 2009:
18 schools get zero pass rate
Johannesburg - Eighteen schools, half of them in Limpopo, got a zero percent matric pass rate.
Four schools followed suit in KwaZulu-Natal, three in the Eastern Cape, one in the North West and one in Gauteng, according to figures by the basic education department following the release of the 2009 National Senior Certificate results.
Minister Angie Motshekga emphasised that "interventions" would be strengthened in under-performing schools to ensure that this year's matric results showed a significant improvement.
The overall matric pass rate for 2009 stood at 60.7%, down from 62.5% in 2008 and 65.2% in 2007.
Source: http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/5a89f02875354e51a62249002d03cdd4/07-01-2010-10-06/18_schools_get_zero_pass_rate
Another report from 24.com
Zuma: Learn from 'old white schools'
Johannesburg - If township schools want to improve their matric results, they should learn from "old white schools" about discipline.
And instead of driving South African farmers out of the country, agricultural and commercial farmers should be cherished for the good of the country, since this is such an important sector.
According to Free State Premier Ace Magashule, this was president Zuma's message to a delegation of the Free State executive council earlier this week.
Magashule and the Free State MECs met with Zuma on Tuesday in Nkandla (the president's hometown, where he was married the day before), Magashule said on Thursday at a news conference about the Free State's matric results.
Attitude change needed
According to Magashule, Zuma said....
Rest of report at:
http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/d8b435ac59af4a969a3a4ccf10462607/07-01-2010-10-33/Zuma_Learn_from_old_white_schools
Zuma appears to be very good at saying what people want to hear, but implementation is another matter.......
@Michael!!!
How can you use a dirty word like "implementation"??? LOL.
Anyway, rumour has it that there is another possible change coming to the SA curriculum. And each change only seems to make the system worse!
My son, who is overseas, has been told by a number of (reliable?) sources that the SA matric is worthless over there.
All this is part of the reason Janine's school uses the Cambridge Curriculum from Grade 4 and up. Far superior system of education.
OBE ... dumbing out the young thats what they doing ... good voting fodder .... cuqui
When you refer to OBE I take it you you are aware that OBE stands for Obscenely Bad Education? At least that's my take on it (Thanks to the Wonkie website)! LOL.
As regards rumours about changing the system, again... The following is a statement made in November 2009 by Minister for Basic Education Angie Motshekga in which she says, amongst other things:
"The question on everyone's lips is why we do not ... declare the death certificate of outcomes-based education, OBE? I must say that we have, to all intents and purposes, done so. So if anybody asks us if we are going to continue with OBE, we say that there is no longer OBE. We have completely done away with it."
The full statement can be found as:
http://www.ecdoe.gov.za/news_article/140/We-ve-signed-OBEs-death-certificate---Motshekga
I really wish that the powers that be would just get the mess sorted. Education is important and should take a much higher priority than it does in the RSA.