MATRIC RESULTS IN THE SIOC-CDT BENEFICIARY AREAS DESERVE A CELEBRATION

The SIOC Community Development Trust (SIOC-CDT) designs their focused education, training, and skills development initiatives to confront and overcome identified challenges faced by its beneficiary communities i.e. JTG District and Tsantsabane local municipality in the Northern Cape as well as the Thabazimbi local municipality in the Waterberg District, Limpopo. The 2023 matric results for learners in the beneficiary communities is testament to the extraordinary efforts that learners have put into their studies and the use of the various programmes available to them.

“Congratulations to the matric class of 2023,” says Vusani Malie, CEO of SIOC-CDT. “The schools participating in our learner support programmes have excelled. Our bridging programmes too have shown impressive improvements in their Mathematics, Physical Science and Accounting performance.

SIOC-CDT sponsored 66 top achiever learners from all beneficiary schools that we support. Between them, 11 recorded distinctions for Mathematics and 17 distinctions for Physical Sciences. 95% of them obtained Bachelor passes with the other 5% obtaining Diploma pass requirements.”

Being the largest beneficiary area to the Trust, the JTG District, which has 31 secondary schools receiving support from the Trust showed the highest improvement in the Northern Cape for Mathematics. Despite the marginal performance improvement in Physical Science, the district remains the highest improved on the subject as well.

The overall pass percentage of the district is 73.7% in 2023, which is an improvement from the 68% pass rate in 2022 and a 9.3% gain from 2020.

“There was a 12.3% improvement in the Mathematics pass rates,” says Malie, “taking it from 40.7% in 2022 to 53% in 2023. Although Physical Science showed a marginal improvement – from 63.2% in 2022 to 64.7% in 2023, we find these to be a demonstration of the relevance of programmes implemented in the Trust’s beneficiary areas that could be strengthened and replicated in other communities.”

The Thabazimbi/Dwalboom (Waterberg District) schools’ pass rate significantly exceeded the national average in both Mathematics and Physical Sciences pass rates. There are 7 secondary schools receiving learner support and study materials, and the results are there to show, with a Mathematics pass rate improvement of 10.6% in 2023. Physical Science pass rates improved too, with 87.5% of learners passing the subject – a 6.6% improvement from the class of 2022.

“There are 3 secondary schools receiving support in the Tsantsabane local municipal area within the ZF Mgcawu District,” says Malie. The combined overall pass rate of these schools also exceeded the national pass rate.

There were huge jumps – almost 10% more learners passed Mathematics, and almost 7% more learners passed Physical Science, despite the decline in percentage pass rate for Mathematics and Physical Science at both Blinkklip and Ratang Thuto.

The data shows that learners and schools are using what is offered, and we are delighted to see the improvement in results.”

Through the two bridging programmes, Access for Success (A4S) and SciMathUS, learners from SIOC-CDT’s beneficiary communities receive a second chance at improving their NSC grades to increase chances of admission into STEM programmes at institutions of higher learning. 

The A4S programme recorded a total of 3 distinctions for Mathematics and 2 for Physical Science. This programme offered 10-months of intensive educational support in Mathematics and Physical Sciences, as well as dedicated personal development coaching for each learner as part of university preparation.  Of the 49 learners in the programme 69% had performed at below 50% for Mathematics at commencement of the programme. After the intensive programme, we are proud that 82% performed at 60% or more in Mathematics and 67% performed at 60% or more in Physical Science thereby increasing their chances for admission in programmes of their dreams.

The SciMathUS programme that 43 learners participated in also recorded outstanding improvements, with 3 distinctions for Mathematics and 3 for Physical Science.  84% scored at least 60% in Mathematics and 83% scored at least 60% in Physical Science. This programme focused on bolstering academic performance, particularly in Mathematics, Physical Science, and Accounting. The programme also exposed these learners to various study paths, and career options.

“We cannot commend the learners, teachers and schools enough,” concludes Malie. Their tenacity, resilience, thirst for success and use of our support is acknowledged and appreciated. We look forward to another year of educational excellence through our various programmes and are excited about the future of children from the Trust’s beneficiary communities. Lastly, the continued collaboration with the Department of Education from the two provinces, i.e. the Northern Cape and Limpopo (Waterberg District) is highly appreciated, for without it, as the SIOC-CDT we wouldn’t have been able to make a contribution in the education landscape”