Johannesburg - Education Minister Naledi Pandor and the nine provincial MECs of Education will on Monday hold a special Council of Education Ministers (CEM) meeting to discuss the technical report of the 2008 National Senior Certificate results.
The meeting comes after the release of NSC results by Minister Pandor, two weeks ago and two days before the reopening of schools in the inland provinces.
Other issues to be discussed at the meeting will include provincial reports on the performance and challenges in the 2008 national certificate examinations and proposed interventions to support the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) in Grades 10 and 12.
During a council meeting held in Cape Town last year in June, the council re-emphasised the need for all structures of the education system to ensure that all schools, teachers and learners were adequately prepared for the examinations.
A total of a total of 589 912 candidates wrote the 2008 matric examinations under the new NCS.
Of the 533 561 candidates with a full set of results 333 681 candidates which indicates 62.5 percent met the requirements for a National Senior Certificate.
The NSC is a very demanding examination with 29 subjects to choose from. It requires candidates to do seven subjects: two languages, Mathematics or Maths Literacy, Life Orientation and three electives/other subjects chosen by the learner.
There is no longer Higher Grade or Standard Grade as in the past and all matrics were required to have school-based assessment marks which make up 25 percent of the final mark in each subject.
Announcing the results, the minister admitted that there have been many difficult challenges in implementing the new curriculum; however educators had done well in making sense of the new curriculum.
"It is clear from the results that many schools and teachers have had difficulty with the curriculum. We must and will provide improved support to them," she said, adding that they will work even more closely with districts, teacher unions and other stakeholders to improve quality teaching and learning in 2009.
The council was established under section 9 of the National Education Policy Act, 1996 (Act No. 27 of 1996) to promote a national education policy which takes full account of the policies of the government, the education interests and needs of the provinces and the respective competence of parliament and the provincial legislatures in terms of section 146 of the Constitution.
Other functions of the council include sharing information and views on all aspects of education in the republic and co-ordinate action matters of mutual interest to the national and provincial governments.
