Pretoria - Gauteng Education MEC Barbara Creecy will on Saturday unveil the expanded Secondary School Improvement Plan (SSIP) aimed at assisting schools that achieved less than 80 percent pass rate in last year's matric exams.
The programme, to be formally launched at Esokwazi Secondary School in Sebokeng, targets 51 000 Grade 12 learners in 391 schools.
Creecy said this year, the department expanded the number of SSIP sites throughout the province from 94 to 109 for classes, which are being held every Saturday and during school holidays.
"We have employed 1 800 expert tutors to provide tuition to learners in Grade 12 in subjects, Maths, Maths Literacy, Accounting, Physical Science, Life Science, History and Geography. We are also providing study material in Economics, Business Studies and English First Additional Language as well as tuition in these subjects during the school holidays," Creecy said on Wednesday.
Creecy noted that one of the positive lessons learned from the public sector strike last year was the interest of learners in establishing study groups. She believed that these played a major role in learner performance, and encouraged learners to take greater responsibility for their own learning process.
She said the department will now be incorporating self study groups in the programme for the next three years and provide learners with study material.
To motivate learners to study consistently, the SSIP sites will be visited by artists, sporting legends and motivational speakers.
Creecy said the department would this year train educators in SSIP schools to ensure the sustainability of the programme beyond the three years.
"We will align and interface daily classroom work during the week and SSIP work on weekends. Districts will monitor the daily delivery of lessons according to pace setters as well as monitor SSIP over the weekend to identify, react to and resolve issues and misalignments," Creecy said.
In response to widespread public concern about the high drop-out rate in the senior secondary schooling phase, the department is offering tuition in Maths, Physical Science and Accounting for Grades 10 and 11.
"This programme will run during school holidays only and we encourage Grade 10 and 11 learners to participate."
