The 2022 matric learners in the Platinum Province of the North West, raised the bar with a 1.6 % increase towards the general pass rate the province had achieved in the previous year. Spokesperson for the provincial department of education in the North West, Elias Malindi responded to Mo Media’s question of why did the MEC, at the results announcement ceremony, state that the province’ passing rate improved whereas North West was outclassed by Kwa Zulu Natal for the fi¬rst time as compared to the previous year.
“In 2021 the province obtained 78.2 % and in 2022 we obtained 79.8%, which is an increase of 1.6%,” stated Malindi. Malindi also expatiated on the burning question that was on the lips of every journalist present at Seasons Weddings and Conference facility near Rooigrond about the disappointing performance of North West School for the Deaf in Leeudoringstad.
The school achieved zero percent pass rate in the 2022 matric exams. The MEC, Viola Motsumi, emphasised that the school has been ravaged by challenges for quite some time and her department was implementing intervention measures to try and improve learning and teaching hiccups.
“The learners passed to the other grades whilst some learners were progressed since they met the progression criteria of the department,” said Malindi. When asked about the MEC’s remarks about the school only having one interpreter allocated to twelve educators, Malindi responded as thus: “ Actually there are only three (3) Deaf Teacher Assistants against twenty (20) teachers and one (1) interpreter. The idea is to have a Deaf Teacher Assistant for every teacher. Teachers who are proficient in South African Sign Language (SASL), three of them, work independently without any Deaf Teacher Assistant rotate in particular subjects among the teachers who are not profi¬cient with SASL.
There is an urgent need to advertise Deaf Teacher Assistants and interpreter’s posts,” added Malindi. He further went on to qualify the MEC’s assertion that the provincial department has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the North West University (NWU) to train teachers on Sign Language and that they, (department) are also going to work with the Provincial Language Committee to assist the school.
Malindi concluded his response to Mo Media enquiries that the department has long intervened at the school. “The new school premises had been built, which is a state-of-the-art school. The new school has a deaf laboratory which is one of the unique features of the school and the building has the ¬re detectors to assist learners in case of ¬re,” concluded Malindi.
