Pretoria - The Gauteng Education Department is to hold an education summit to address ongoing instability and underperformance in Soweto schools.
The idea of the Soweto Education Summit is the brainchild of Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, who, during the State of the Province Address said the summit would mobilise civil society to contribute towards government's goal of quality education for all.
The summit is scheduled for next month.
"With Soweto's rich history, we cannot allow it to lag behind in terms of the culture of learning and teaching. The education of the African child must be everybody's business and concern," Mokonyane said at the time.
The summit will bring together government, education stakeholders including teacher and learners' unions, civil society as well as parents, who will address the disruptions which continued after last year's teachers' strike.
Gauteng Education MEC Barbara Creecy said the summit was expected to address issues including improving classroom teaching and learner performance, how to bring back a climate of discipline, safety and social cohesion in Soweto schools, ways of improving school governance and management, and ensuring a political climate that fosters a spirit of learning and teaching.
"The summit will be held against the backdrop of frequent disruption to learning and teaching in the township, the migration of several thousand learners out of schools in the area to other areas in the province and widespread problems with governance, infrastructure, discipline and safety," Creecy said.
She pointed out that the consequences in Soweto are reflected in the academic performance of schools, where the average 2010 matric pass rate of Soweto secondary schools was 63 percent, compared to provincial average of 79 percent.
In grade tests conducted in 2008, grade 3 learners in Soweto had a performance of 32 percent in Maths, compared to a provincial average of 43 percent and 28 percent in literacy compared to a provincial average of 38 percent.
Grade 6 learner performance in Soweto is 24 percent, compared to a 36 percent provincial average.
"Soweto has by far the highest number of underperforming schools at 60 compared to other townships such as Sharpeville, Katlehong, Tembisa, Mamelodi, Soshanguve, Daveyton and Evaton, that have an average of 10 underperforming schools," Creecy said.
