The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, on Wednesday said that the Second Chance Matric Programme was an opportunity for young people to obtain an improved or a matric qualification.
At a media briefing before tabling her department’s budget vote in parliament on Wednesday, Motshekga put emphasis on how important the Second Chance Matric Programme was and how the objective of the said programme was to offer young people who had failed to meet the requirements of the NSC/SC and those who wish to upgrade or improve their NSC a further opportunity.
“We have seen substantial increases in KZN (6,739), and Limpopo (4,987) who offered face-to-face lessons for the November examinations, as well as the Northern Cape (2,138). In addition, there were substantial increases in the results of the eight pilot subjects from 2015 to 2016,” she said.
Motshekga said these were the results of the programme last year and proved that there had been an increase in the uptake of post-school NSC examinations in all provinces.
Motshekga also said that her department would be continuing with their advocacy work regarding the programme.
“I am currently on a country-wide roadhow to promote the Second Chance Matric programme and get feedback on how it is being received on the ground in a bid to improve the roll-out as we continue to work on the programme.”
Thus far the Minister had visited three provinces but intended to visit all nine provinces before the end of this year. She said that the enthusiasm expressed by people about the programme left her very excited and this showed that people’s desire to take part in the programme reaffirmed the need for it and the value placed on a matric qualification.
One of the ways in which young people will receive support from the programme is face-to-face lessons at some venues.
“Multi-media broadcasting solutions, these include telematics in some provinces, internet broadcasting, the DBE television channel broadcasts lessons on both Open View HD and DSTV. The Open View HD channel 201 is currently at 36 venues nationally but privately is in the homes of 500,000 households and DSTV channel 319 is currently in 4.5 million households. We are also using the SABC Education Geleza Nathi which is on SABC 1 from 5 am to 6 am daily and repeats at 11 pm. These can also be accessed on their YouTube Channel,” she added.
She also said that a digital online course had been made available throughout the year to support learners. This course was compatible with all devices and had been made available for the learners that were not able to go online at public libraries and community centres. Vodacom had come on board to assist learners with lessons via their Vodacom e-school learning site with no data costs to those subscribed to them. The Basic Education department would also provide printed resources that would be available at the district offices.
– African News Agency (ANA)
