The province has seen a general drop in its matric results for 2018 and so have public schools in Hout Bay.
The class of 2018 scored an 81.5% pass rate, down compared to 84.4% in 2017.
The National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam results were released on Friday January 4.
The Western Cape came third nationally, while Gauteng was the top performer with 87.9% and the Free State came second with 87.5%.
Hout Bay High School’s results dropped from 77.44% in 2017 to 75.8% in 2018. In 2017, 31 pupils wrote their 2018 NSC examination and 24 passed and in 2018 33 pupils wrote and 25 passed.
Principal Juan Julius said he is pleased with the quality of passes and the school is motivated to work harder this year.
“We can do better and we plan to do better with our intervention programmes that we already have in place and those we are hoping to implement this year,” said Mr Julius.
Some of the interventions include subject advisers, extra work for pupils to do revision and teachers offering up their Saturdays for tuition.
However, all the extra intervention, Mr Julius said is fruitless without parents’ support.
“We want to see more parents getting involved with their children’s education. At the end of the day parents need to create that culture of learning and that starts at home. We struggle with ill-discipline and work ethic,” he said.
“Not taking away from the children who did well and passed well because those are the parents and learners who put in the work,” said Mr Julius. In 2017 the school had three Bachelor’s passes compared to nine the previous year.
Mr Julius said some of the issues that might have had an impact on the matric result include the protests in Hout Bay in August.
The protest started when a fisherman went missing after he was caught poaching by police. It was further fueled by discontent over fishing quotas, a lack of housing and service delivery and a lack of job opportunities. “This had a massive impact on the pupils but it doesn’t take away from our success because despite this we had 100% passes for English, life orientation, tourism, maths and physics,” he said.
Silikamva High School’s matric result also dropped from 71.8% to 60.3%. In 2017 85 pupils wrote and 61 passed and in 2018 78 pupils wrote and 47 passed.
Six years ago the school opened its doors in Imizamo Yethu. The much needed high school in the area has been performing well since its inception and obtained 91.7% in 2016 but dropped down to 71.8% to 60.3% in 2018.
Principal Dianne Morgan commended the class of 2018: “Your input has determined your output.
A special thanks to all the Silikamva High School teachers who have worked tirelessly and gone far beyond the call of duty in preparing students for the NSC exam. Your sterling efforts as teachers are valued and acknowledged,” said Ms Morgan.
Western Cape Education Department (WCED) MEC Debbie Schafer said they’re satisfied with the increase in passes in maths and physical science:
“Our most important criteria is to ensure that we have quality in the system and that we retain as many learners in the system between
Grade 10 and 12, so that they can pass their matric.
Even though our percentage has dropped slightly, our quality indicators of maths and science and Bachelor’s pass rate have increased.”
