Eastern Cape Education MEC, Mandla Makupula, on Tuesday presented awards to the provinces top performing schools and districts.
The Bhisho Education Department says the awards ceremony at the East London International Convention Centre also celebrated pockets of education excellence in the Eastern Cape.
The Department also recognised the winners from the recent Annual National Assesments.
Speaking to Algoa FM News, MEC Makupula said "the basic purpose was to recognise and make awards to those high schools that have, over the last five years, achieved pass rates of between 80% and 100%."
"We thought it important to recognise them. There are also a category for the most improved, those who have moved from lower levels to higher levels," he said.
MEC Makupula said there are also school principals and school governing bodies who are doing their level best and therefore "it's important to say thank you very much for the hard work you have done and we are looking forward to ensuring that we sustain that momentum you've developed."
In a wide-ranging interview, MEC Makupula also said that many of the challenges facing education in the Eastern Cape do not emanate from the classroom. He pointed to migration of people for economic reasons, teenage pregnancies as well as drug use in schools.
"We are dealing with economic challenges, we are dealing with social challenges. Those matters do not come from education," Makupula said.
The MEC also pointed to the curriculum and subjects being taught in schools, saying that subjects taught in schools must "talk" to the future careers of the learners.
"So, this year we said we are going to focus on making sure that we prioritise school functionality, training the leadership of schools in partnership with the four universities of the Eastern Cape to train principals in school management," Makupula said.
"A school or any organisation is also a reflection of its leader. If you have a strong principal you are likely to have a good performing school. The second thing is to focus on teacher development and curriculum implementation because the issues of pedagogy demand that you talk the learner, teacher and subject matter. That's the core business of education and therefore we must strengthen curriculum implementation and teacher development," he said.
Makupula said another key element to improving education outcomes in 2015 is to make the Department (of Education) more responsive and timeous in dealing with the support to schools. We are reviewing our service delivery model to ensure that the lowest level of the Department must be strengthened with professionals and the EDO or circuit manager to support schools directly."
