UNIZULU Keeps Empowering Educators in the District to Improve Maths Pass Rate
The University of Zululand (UNIZULU), on Tuesday and Wednesday (16 and 17 May), hosted its annual mathematics convention for educators working within the King Cetshwayo District in an effort to improve the pass rate of school learners in the district.
The seminar was held at the University’s Science Centre, Richards Bay. It was facilitated by Jurgens Johannes Basson, a respected mathematician and mathematics textbooks author.
The objective of the conference was to help capacitate King Cetshwayo math educators in terms of their teaching ability skills and add to their teaching tools, for them to exceed the results of math school learners.
The low math pass rate in South Africa is an issue of great concern for the national Department of Basic Education.
The Faculty of Education Dean, Professor Sithabile Ntombela, expressed her concerns on how few learners do math and how the results have dropped in the past few years. She proceeded with giving the educators some recommendations on how to make math interesting to learners in order to try improve the results. She indicated that teachers should “remove fear from learners, modernise how math is taught, encourage all students to do mathematics and make math a more fun subject”. The dean added that for teachers to mainstream math, they must change their attitude towards the subject and about their learners.
One of the guest speakers, Tony Moodely, the chief education specialist in the Department of Education, gave credit to the long partnership the department has had with the UNIZULU Science Centre. “As a district who enrolled in 2021 as the second largest number of math candidates in the entire country, that was 8000 candidates who have enrolled for mathematics last year, our numbers have sadly gone down this year. We are in reason around 7000 candidates who are currently doing mathematics and we are very concerned about the drop in terms of math enrollment,” said Moodely.
Moodely highlighted that the math results in the district have been poor for a number of years but noted that for the first time last year, the province achieved a milestone result of a 50% pass rate. He added that the department hopes to continue on this path.
Gcina Nhleko, the director of the Communications and Marketing Division, gave a vote of thanks, saying how the conference has played a huge role on the math results of learners in the district. “There is one thing that I have observed that has been consistent since we started this session with the King Cetshwayo district, it’s the dedication and passion. I think the output is evidence in the good results that the students have received at the end of the year,” she said.
Nokuthula Mazibuko, an educator at Zinqobele Secondary School, communicated her thoughts about the event; she stated that it was her first time attending the workshop and she has benefited a lot from the conference. She has gained in terms of teaching skills and content development. She continued to state that the workshop was rewarding and that she will use the knowledge gained in order to continue teaching her learners.
As a final point, the educator said she wished in the next seminar, the facilitator could focus on the section of probability as this is a topic she is not proficient in.
– Sinenhlanhla Ngcongo
