Premier Ebrahim Rasool and Mrs Roshida Sabodien
Fellow Cabinet Colleagues
SG Ron Swartz, DDGs and other senior officials from WCED
Members of the Standing Committee on Education and other MPLs
Rectors and CEO’s of Higher Education Institutions and FET Colleges
Representatives of Teacher Unions, Governing Body Associations, Representative Council of Learners and Student Organisations
Chairperson and Members of the Western Cape Youth Commission
Principals and teachers representing schools receiving awards today
Matric learners who will be honoured today and your parents
Representatives of Nedbank, our sponsors of today’s event
Ladies and Gentlemen

In his address to the ANC's 52nd National Conference in Polokwane, President Thabo Mbeki referred to the words of the great revolutionary leader from Guinea-Bissau, Amilcar Cabral "Tell no lies, claim no easy victories".

In fact the whole quote takes us even further: "Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories… Our experience has shown us that in the general framework of daily struggle, this battle against ourselves, this struggle against our own weaknesses… is the most difficult of all." - Amilcar Cabral, African freedom fighter (1924-1973).

While I will address you on some of the highlights of this year’s results I shall not skirt the lowlights. Unless we address the issues head-on we are not doing anybody any favours.

We all know that the 2007 that we had in mind for education was not the 2007 that eventually happened. Many, but not all, of our schools lost up to 30 days of normal teaching time. This extended period of industrial action took its toll on learners, teachers and parents.

While we did embark on a high-energy catch-up programme, which managed to fill us all with hope that the exemplary teaching and learning efforts might compensate for time lost, it will not be possible for us to gauge completely exactly now how the lost class time impacted on the lives of individual learners.

The Class of 2007 is the last group to write the Senior Certificate exam. It’s the end of an era. They have had a few years of exposure to the Critical Outcomes and some of the elements of the new curriculum and I trust that this has given them some useful skills.

They have also, however, had to make some adjustments as they have shifted from one course to another. They have had teachers who have faced the challenge of running parallel programmes: some "old" syllabus, some "old" C2005, some "new" NCS. Maybe their textbooks were starting to look a little tatty as they were the last ones of various print runs.

This particular group of people is here to celebrate so let me start with the pluses. I am happy first of all to note that the Western Cape has again scored well on the national score card.

This year, of a total of 400 high schools and centres, including independent schools, 73 schools have a 100% pass rate; and a further 165 have a pass rate of 90% or more.

While the overall percentage pass rate is down to 80,6% compared with 83,7% in 2006, this is in keeping with the trends nationwide and could be seen to be linked in some measure to the effects of the industrial action, contextual factors, leadership and management and the quality of support provided by departmental structures.

Ladies and Gentlemen, a record 71 227 learners entered for the Senior Certificate Examinations this year of which 41 922 full-time were full-time learners; 16 779 part-time; and 8 742 private candidates. In total this represents an increase of more than 14% compared with 2006.

I believe this demonstrates a growing commitment to education in the province, regardless of the difficulties that so many of our young people face. More of our learners are actually reaching matric and fewer, although the numbers are still way to low, are dropping out during high school.

Slowly the consciousness that education holds the key to the future is taking hold across the province. Indeed we are beginning to place education and skills at the centre of all our endeavours.

Of the 41 922 learners who correctly wrote the full examination, it gives me great pleasure to announce that 33 787 learners passed. I am pleased to note that, in real terms, the growth in the number of candidates who passed (from 33 316 last year to 33 787 in 2007 ) represents an increase of 471.

The growth in the number of candidates passing has been a trend in the province over several years. However, improving the quality of passes remains a serious challenge.

The number who passed without endorsement has increased from 22 727 in 2006 to 23 487 in 2007, an increase of 760. The number of candidates who passed with endorsement declined by 289 from 10 589 to 10 300 this year.

Merit passes declined by 152 from 6 594 to 6 442 and distinctions by 133 from 2 280 to 2 147, which is to be expected if the pass rate declines slightly.

The results show that we have made steady progress overall with Mathematics and Physical Science on the Standard Grade, but not on the Higher Grade.

The number of candidates who passed Mathematics on the Standard Grade increased from 9 824 in 2006 to 10 346 in 2007. The number of candidates who passed Physical Science on the Standard Grade also increased, from 4 972 in 2006 to 5 137 this year.

The number of candidates who passed Mathematics on the Higher Grade declined from 4 137 in 2006 to 3 990 this year. The number of passed Physical Science on the Higher Grade declined from 4 053 in 2006 to 3 687 in 2007.

The total number of candidates who passed Mathematics on either the Standard or Higher Grades increased by 375 from 13 961 in 2006 to 14 336 in 2007. The total number of candidates who wrote Physical Science on either grade declined from 9 025 in 2006 to 8 824 this year.

We are pleased to note that the number of candidates with one or more ‘A’ symbols increased from 3 885 last year to 4 209 in 2007, the largest number for the past three years. One candidate, Ruhan Meyer, of Hoër Jongenskool Paarl, opted to take 10 subjects for matric and achieved ‘A’ symbols for all of these subjects.

Highlights of this year’s results include the many schools in poor areas that excel despite a range of challenges they face in their efforts to provide quality education. Our Deputy President said earlier this year that her favourite people are good principals.

They are also my favourite people, Premier. And we have many in this province. But I do want to single out one of them today. He is here amongst us and his name is Mike Mavovana from Hector Petersen in Wallacedene. Not only did his matrics of 2007 and their teachers start learning and teaching 10 days before the school year started, but his school increased the number of matrics from 110 in 2006 to 144 in 2007. 81,48% matrics passed in 2006, this year 83,24% passed.

The school received 16 endorsements and 10 merit passes, a dramatic improvement on 2006. Mr Mavovana was honoured as the Western Cape school leader of the year in 2007 and won the silver award at national level.

That is not all premier. Hector Petersen will be honoured later this morning not only for excellence in outcomes, but also for improvement in the senior certificate pass rate and incredibly, also win a third award for improvement in Physical Science HG and SG. Usebenzile uTata Mavovana.

It is leadership and management like this that we need across the province.

Many of these schools set ambitious targets and have achieved or exceeded them. Examples include the Centre for Science and Technology in Khayelitsha (COSAT), that has achieved a 100% pass rate for the past three years.

Masibambane Secondary has matched the provincial pass rate with a pass rate of 80,9% while also increasing the number of successful candidates from 93 in 2006 to 161 in 2007.

Through networks of ex-learners and business supporting our schools, always in close partnership with the school leadership and cooperation between public and private sector we have evidence of how giving time and resources, literally "ploughing back" by past pupils can make a fundamental impact on quality.

They too have been willing to excel and be damned proud of it too! The focus of this programme has been on whole school development including career guidance, extra classes for maths and computer studies, extra curricular time like annual matric camps and teambuilding with the aim of collectively lifting the matric pass rate.

We have a concrete programme working with UCT Alumni, Inyatelo, Community Ploughback, Proudly Manenberg, The Khayelitsha Education Forum and Old Mutual to make sure that every high school in the province has a functioning past pupils/ ploughback structure by the end of 2009.

We are also deeply concerned at the number of schools that are showing no progress despite considerable support from the department and other agencies. The number of schools that achieved pass rates of less than 60% has grown from 34 in 2006 to 57 in 2007. We have noted that a number of these schools did not set targets earlier this year and that their pass rates dropped substantially.

While the strike may be a factor in explaining the performance of these schools, there are other factors, including the general context of the school, teaching and learning practice and critically, leadership and management issues.

Those who follow my commentary carefully each year will know that I have never failed to draw attention to the divide in results between the scores of those in the more privileged areas and those who are in ex-DET schools, for example. I am also very insistent that we must not gloss over quality issues.

The Senior Certificate is not the end of the line: it’s the bridge over into adulthood and into the business of earning a living. This government has a strong campaign around "Lifelong Learning". The Senior Certificate must open doors and not close them.

Let’s look critically at the outputs listed under some racial headings. I know that the categories used are offensive or troubling to some and that the majority of schools are no longer homogeneous in enrolment patterns.

But the statistics are still important to a state that is intent on redressing imbalances. So what’s the scorecard, ladies and gentlemen? In this case I will need to refer to patterns over the last few years.

In terms of ex-CED schools; in the last three years numbers of candidates who have sat the exam, were 12 221 (in 2005); 12 471 (2006); and 12 920 this year. Respective percentage pass rates were 98,2; 97,7; and 97,4. Endorsement rates: 51,7; 52,1; and 50,7.

In terms of ex-HOR schools; the comparative numbers for learner writing were 15 876 (pass rate 83,7%); 16 476 (pass rate 79,6%); and 17 309 (pass rate 75,9%). Endorsement numbers follow the same pattern with 13,7%; 12,3% and 11% this year.

For ex-DET schools in 2005: 6 401 learners wrote (pass rate 63,4%); 6 619 in 2006 (pass rate 67,1%); and this year 7 085 wrote (pass rate 60,1%). However, endorsements were a mere 4,6%; 5%; and 4,5% this year.

When it comes to Physical Science HG; of the 2 861 ex-CED learners who wrote 86,7% passed; of the 326 ex-DET learners who wrote, 35,9% passed; and of the 781 ex-HOR learners who wrote, 55,3% passed. I do no have to repeat the maths statistics, but clearly the trend is the same and it confirms what our challenges are.

I therefore want to identify just three ongoing trajectories for 2008/9 and beyond.

1.  We will continue to place enormous emphasis on foundational literacy and numeracy. Without a solid foundation in early childhood development and in every primary school, our children will continue to drop out of school.

They will continue to underperform. The learners who enter high school will still not have the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values required to excel in grade 12. Our Human Capital Strategy thus rests on the bedrock of quality general education and training.

That is why Premier, the majority of the new 747 posts that we have added to the basket will go towards a better learner /teacher ratio in our primary schools for 2008.

We must redouble our efforts to support schools as they embark on a programme of continuing with mother-tongue education in both the foundation and the intermediate phase - in other words, for the first six years of schooling. We are convinced that the best way to learn how to read, write and count is through the mother tongue.

We need excellent teachers in the mother tongue just as our teachers need to be excellent teachers of English. We plan, via initiatives like the emerging Retired Teachers’ Association, with a potential cohort of volunteers, which we are supporting, and via our expanded Family Literacy Programme and the National Mass literacy Campaign which will be launched by President Mbeki in 2008, to give more and more support where it is needed most.

In 2008 we will give awards to Primary schools, by circuit, by district and at provincial level, where literacy and numeracy scores are increasing. We have evidence of considerable achievements and want to incentivise and acknowledge. Schools with success stories to share will be identified and celebrated. Their methods and systems will be shared with schools that are still struggling.

2.  We will continue to expand our programme of classroom support. The need for teacher development is a fact that is widely acknowledged. Our growing team of support officials, appointed as part of the WCED re-design process, will help us to build our schools. I have instructed our officials to ensure that we implement the 36 week learning programme in the foundation phase for 2008. This will guide our teachers and give them day to day support in classroom practice and method.

The Quality Improvement, Development, Support and Upliftment Programme (Quids-Up) is a national initiative which aims to allocate new resources to schools, especially in poor and disadvantaged communities.

An amount of R386,875 million has been earmarked over the MTEF. A business and procurement plan of R71,442 million for 2007/08 has been drawn up and approved by the department. The outlay is to provide a classroom environment, which is comfortable and conducive to teaching and learning. These are material resources to revive existing libraries or to start up new ones at schools, which do not have library facilities.

3.  The third theme is the one of excellence and of accountability. We need leaders who lead, managers who manage, learners who learn and parents who parent. I must also turn to the officials of the WCED to play their support and guidance role effectively. They must also be part of the "accountability" value chain.

Our schools have a huge range of contextual variables, which impact on them. We have learners, parents, teachers and schools who do wonders and against the odds. I salute you all today. You humble us all with your dedication, your energy, your commitment.

At the same time there are 57 schools that have failed to meet the provincial baseline of a 60% pass rate. Starting in the week before the school year commences these schools will be the subject of a full-scale investigation.

The results of the investigations will be announced by the end of January. By 28th February 2008, every high school in the province will sign off on targets for grade 10, 11 and 12 and also adopt an action plan to achieve these targets.

Each target template and action plan will, in addition to the principal, SGB chair, RCL chair and circuit manager, be signed off by each of our 8 district directors. On 28th February 2008 we will also announce our direct intervention measures for each school that has maintained unacceptably poor results over the last three years.

I said last year "I will call under-performing schools to account in 2007. I expect teachers and learners to be present and prepared and to be teaching and learning. Teachers and learners will be required to set and hit targets; they will spend extra hours teaching and learning. Learners must understand that school is a serious business. There is no substitute for hard work!"

We will be analysing the results carefully and must, if necessary, take firm steps. I said last year that "Where the main or contributing factor(s) is lack of effective leadership and management, or of problems with fundamentally weak teachers, we will certainly consider options of redeployment of school principals and senior management teams, in line with accepted labour practices". I am happy that the era of accountability which we introduced in 2007 is now to be a legislative mandate.

Our strategy includes building the literacy and numeracy skills of primary school children to provide a solid foundation for high school, while also providing special support in high schools that need this support the most.

We draw tremendous encouragement from schools in historically disadvantaged communities that achieve good results, especially in primary schools. I would like to mention two schools in particular who serve the poorest of the poor, and who showed a substantial improvement in their results in the 2006 literacy and numeracy study.

The first is Wagenhuiskranz Primary School, who serve the fishing community in Bredasdorp. They improved their numeracy result from 30,8% in 2004 to 77,3% in 2006, and their literacy result from 46,2% to 81,8%.

The second is Kliphoek Primary School, a farm school between Piketberg and Redelinghuis on the West Coast, who improved their numeracy result from 25% in 2004 to 75% in 2006, an improvement of 50%. They improved their literacy result from 50% to 100% during this period – a remarkable achievement!

The common factor is completely dedicated staff, who apply themselves to dealing with this issue. Both schools are not afraid to try new approaches and who welcome advice from our literacy and numeracy specialists. They have studied the results of the tests and have applied appropriate solutions.

We celebrate examples of the primary schools at the very same time that we celebrate the achievements of our schools and learners present here today, who have demonstrated what they can achieve through commitment and hard work.

I also draw enormous encouragement from the increase in the Grade 11 pass rate this year, which bodes well for the future as the National Curriculum Statement is being embedded and beginning to stabilise. The Western Cape grade 11 results has improved from 75,9% in 2006 to 76,91% in 2007, which is an increase of 1,01%.

I have no doubt that both the grade 11 as well as the matric results reflect the efforts of learners, teachers, school management teams and education officials to master the new curriculum.

The grade 11 learners of 2007 wrote 11 nationally set papers in subjects with the highest enrolment. Sample moderation of the marking of these papers has enabled the WCED to make an accurate assessment of how learners have coped. This will also feed into the Grade 12 planning for 2008.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my message to all the matrics who have passed is, simply, congratulations! To the individual learners and schools whom we honour here today – well done – you are role models of a special kind. Enjoy your success! You have worked for it! As Minister Pandor said "You have dared to excel!."

Today’s main message must be one of Hope. For so many, today’s good news will bring them nearer to their goals.

I want to urge our parents, union and sgb leaders, the corporate sector, ngo's and cbo's: let’s keep our young ones on the learning road. To our young people: there are many more ways you can keep learning – there are learnerships, you can volunteer to get work experience, you can do internships.  You must keep the flames of your dreams burning. Never before have young people had so many opportunities as in South Africa in 2007.

For those that did not make it, this is not the end of Hope. You definitely have many options available. You can apply for a remark for some or all of your scripts; you can enter for the supplementary exams for next year. Anybody who did not pass will have a huge programme of opportunities available to re-write.

The WCED will set up 30 venues across the province where special Saturday classes will be offered in preparation for a special set of examinations in June. Registration for the special schools will start when schools reopen in January 2008.

You can later join ABET programmes and keep re-writing for a further five years if necessary! We will leave no-one behind. No-one should despair. You can also apply to be admitted to an FET college for vocational courses. R6,9 million will be spent on this special programme in 2008.

We don’t just single out our top performing individuals today but also take time to honour various schools. We don’t have all the teachers of our top learners present today but maybe we should expand our guest list next year to include them.

It’s a proud moment for parents too and we applaud you for the role you have played in your children’s lives. It’s always important to keep a balance, too, between work and play. Maybe the job of the parents of exceptional children is to encourage them to play more!

I want to conclude by thanking all our officials – the examiners, markers, invigilators, teachers, principals and administrative personnel – for helping to process over one million scripts; it really is a huge operation.

So, thank you to the Curriculum and Exams Teams, under the capable leadership of Brian Schreuder, Sigamoney Naicker, to newcomers Tina Singh and Zodwa Modimakwane. I must single out Andre Clausen and Jaywan Parbhoo too, who – together with hundreds of personnel – worked long hours to deliver another examination of integrity and professionalism.

We thank all our parents, teachers, school leaders, officials and partners who have worked so hard to make a difference in the lives of the matric class of 2007.

I thank you...