Penoga speaks out about dropping metric results

aarond@caxton.co.za

The Kathorus MAIL interviewed the learners, learner’s council, governing body, teachers and even parents of the learners of Penoga Secondary School in Katlehong about the dropping matric results.

They all had different opinions.

One of the hard-working teachers who were interviewed by Kathorus MAIL, Mr Manganyi said, “I think some of our Grade 12s are affected by the standard of teaching at matric level – it is too high for them. There is too much to learn in a short space of time.

“Another thing is the level of commitment. It is too low, and some of them don’t see themselves as Grade 12s. Late-coming for morning classes is also one of the factors contributing to the drop in results.

“Lastly, there is also a social factor – lack of IDs, which also hampers student performance. They don’t have identity documents to use if they want to look for work after completing school. I think our government needs to step in and organise Home Affairs to come to schools help learners with IDs,” said Manganyi, who teaches life orientation at the school.

One of the Grade 12 learners at the school named Zandile had a different opinion from that of her teacher.

“I think it is because some of the teachers are not dedicated. They don’t want to do their work on time. They take their work seriously too late in the year and when they are under pressure, they will overwork us and that puts a lot of strain on us as learners,” she said.

Kathorus MAIL interviewed three of the learners on the school learner’s council. One of them, Sinethemba Dludlu, said that transport is an issue. “If there was enough transport it would be easier to transport learners around. Right now learners are afraid to remain behind for afternoon classes because they can’t get home very late. Others can’t make it on time for morning classes because of the same problem,” said Dludlu, a young, enthusiastic boy who is in matric.

Nompumelelo Magagula, also from the learner’s council, said that sometimes it is difficult to deal with the pressure that comes with the syllabus. “A lot is expected from us. We have a lot to learn in a short period of time. Secondly, some of the learners are not dedicated enough; they don’t work hard at all,” said a highly motivated Magagula, who is in Grade 12.

Gugu Mathonsi had this to say about the issue: “I think we lack motivation. We are not properly motivated. We need people who have made it big in life to come and motivate us. They did organise it sometime earlier this year but I think we still need more of it.”

Mrs Longwe, a teachers’ representative on the SGB, had this to say: “We don’t get support from parents. They don’t bother to come to school to see their children’s progress.

“Secondly, alcohol abuse and other illegal drugs are the big cause of the drop in matric results.

“Thirdly, some learners come from child-headed homes; there is no proper guidance from their homes. There is an issue of overcrowding in some of the classes; it becomes difficult for teachers to manage classes. Some of the learners have no food at home; they come to school on an empty stomach and only have one meal that is provided by the school. It is always difficult to start the day on an empty stomach,” said Longwe.

One of the parents, Duduzile Motloung, put the blame on the government. “Everything is a mess. Our government is very careless. They allow everybody into the country. Even people with bad motives are allowed to cross borders into this country to corrupt our children by giving them drugs. Companies employ cheap labour while our children are sitting at home with qualifications.

“Another issue is teenage pregnancy. Learners do not have time to study because they come from school and look after their children instead of studying.

“Drug abuse is also an issue. Young people spend most of the time in bars on weekends drinking alcohol rather than spending time with their books.

“Another issue is that our government has given more rights to our children; we can’t control them by giving them proper discipline like we used to be disciplined. We are now afraid of our own children. If you try to discipline them harshly they will call the police on you. How can they pass if the situation is like this?” said Motloung.

Another parent interviewed by Kathorus MAIL, Pauline Malinga said the youngsters are “two-faced liars”. She said, “At school they are something different from what they are at home. For us single parents it becomes difficult to control them, especially since we are women and they are not afraid of us. It becomes easy for them to lie to us.”

SGB member Benjamin Ntoyi said that they used to have a problem with matric results but now it’s OK. “We have improved because of the Secondary School Intervention Programme (SSIP). With this system it is easy to monitor learners’ progress because we keep them at night on weekends. I personally come to the school to spend a night with them to make sure everything is going accordingly. I encourage learners to take this opportunity of SSIP and make good use of it.”