Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has urged all South Africans to work together in support of basic education and the future of the children.
Commenting on the 2011 Annual National Assessments (ANA) of numeracy and literacy skills results, released on Tuesday by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, Zuma said the assessments have "reconfirmed the correctness of the government decision to make education an apex priority and a societal responsibility nationwide."
He called on the nation to hold up the banner of literacy and numeracy and work together towards ensuring that all citizens acquire these foundational and critical skills.
The assessment, which took place in February, includes numeracy and literacy tests conducted among six million foundation phase (Grades 1 to 3) and intermediate phase (Grades 4 to 6) pupils attending government schools.
The ANA results showed that nationally, Grade 3 learners performed at an average of 35 percent in literacy and 28 percent in numeracy, while the provincial performance stands between 19 percent and 43 percent, with the highest being the Western Cape.
In Grade 6, the national average performance in languages is 28 percent, while mathematics performance is 30 percent. The provincial percent in the two areas ranges between 20 percent and 41 percent, with the highest being the Western Cape and lowest being Mpumalanga.
While acknowledging that the results were disappointing, Zuma noted that they inform the nation of learners' performance, and demonstrate that where literacy and numeracy programmes are implemented effectively and in a focused manner like in Gauteng and Western Cape, performance is enhanced.
He added that the significant intervention of testing nearly six million learners is one of government's many strategies to ensure that the outcome of improved quality learning and teaching is achieved.
"The purpose of the ANA is in the first instance to provide government with a tool to measure on an annual basis the performance of the entire sector - from the individual learner, class, school, district, province and the country as a whole. This will enable government to accurately measure on an annual basis the impact of specific programmes and interventions.
"The ANA results also enable government to identify points in the system - whether province, district or school - where intervention is needed, experts will work with the Planning and Delivery Oversight Unit to support provinces to implement effectively all education programmes and interventions that will strengthen learning and teaching and improved quality of basic education," Zuma said in a statement.
In a bid to strengthen learning and improve the quality of teaching, government has already put in place programmes, including the distribution of workbooks to nearly six million children in 2011.
Government has also introduced practical reforms such as streamlining curriculum documents for teachers into the Curriculum and Assessments Statements, as well as taking steps to improve the language skills of learners by introducing the language of learning and teaching in Grade 1 and reducing the number of subjects in the intermediate phase.
Government has also finalised the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development for South Africa. The focus is firmly on more targeted, subject-specific teacher education and development that will improve teacher content knowledge.
