MATRIC pupils who wrote the state-set National Senior Certificate have achieved a pass rate of 70,2%, but stark differences remain in the performances of provinces, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said yesterday.

After years of decline from a 2003 high of 72,3%, the class of 2011’s pass rate is an increase of 2,4 percentage points from last year’s 67,8% pass rate.

The reversal of the decreasing trend pointed to a “decisive shift” across the system, Ms Motshekga said at a briefing in Pretoria.

The Western Cape was once again the top-performing province with a pass rate of 82,9%, slightly above Gauteng’s 81,15%.

The Eastern Cape ranked last with a 58,1% pass rate — a decline of 0,2 percentage points from 2010. The national Department of Basic Education is intervening in the province’s education department.

Of the 81 education districts in SA, 11 of the 15 that achieved an overall pass rate of less than 60% were in the Eastern Cape, Ms Motshekga said. All five districts that achieved less than a 40% pass were in that province.

The department would increase its support for poorly performing schools, and “intervention teams” would this year be sent to all schools that failed to achieve a pass rate above 40%, she said. Across the country, 24,3% of pupils passed at a bachelor’s degree level, qualifying them to proceed to a three-year degree at a university.

Once again there was a focus on the mathematics and science results, which the Department of Basic Education has made a priority.

The department set itself a target to increase the number of pupils eligible for bachelor programmes, with 300000 achieving university-level passes by 2024, and 350000 pupils writing mathematics and 320000 writing physical science in that year.

The mathematics pass rate for 2011 was 46,3%, down from 2010’s 47,4%, Ms Motshekga said, and the department “remained concerned”.

However, the pass rate for physical science increased to 53,4%, from last year’s 47,8%, she said.

Lynn Bowie, a mathematics lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand’s school of education, said it was unsurprising that fewer matrics were choosing to take mathematics and science.

Many recognised that poor performance in these subjects adversely affected their chances of passing, and just as many realised they had not been adequately prepared for the subjects throughout their schooling. Ms Bowie said this was unlikely to change soon.

Any attempt to improve these statistics would require focus at all levels of schooling, as by nature these were subjects where long-term “building competency” was most essential, she said. However, the department should be praised for its efforts to provide support mechanisms, at the Grade 1 and foundational level, that would ultimately see results, she said.

Beyond the necessary support for getting teaching and learning right, the department should refrain from playing “political games” and avoid the temptation to “play around” with the system or the curriculum simply to improve results, Ms Bowie said.

Democratic Alliance spokes-man Wilmot James said although the pass rate had exceeded 70% for the first time in seven years, to maintain and improve the system the department would need to focus on retaining pupils.

Of the 1,3-million pupils who enrolled in Grade 1 in 1999, only 40,7% wrote the 2010 matric exams, he said.

Although the number of pupils writing the matric exams was even lower last year, with 80000 fewer than 2010, Department of Basic Education director-general Bobby Soobrayan pointed out age enrolment policies had changed significantly over years, and these “fluctuations” needed to “work their way through the system”.

The Suid Afrikaanse Onderwysersunie (SAOU) welcomed the results and said if the class of 2011 was compared with their Grade 1 enrolment in 2000, the flow-through ratio had improved.

But the ratio between the number of candidates who wrote mathematics compared with the larger number who wrote mathematical literacy had become “more negative”, the SAOU said.

While maths literacy, as the easier option, improved pupils’ chances of passing matric, the subject did not “open doors” for further study, the union said.

Mr Soobrayan said the pass rate for economics had dropped to 64%, from 75% in 2010.

This year 397 schools had achieved an overall 100% pass rate, he said.

Ms Motshekga said the results showed the department was focused on the “correct places”.

It would now increase its efforts to eradicate inequality in schools, she said.

Source- bussinessday.co.za

gernetzkyk@bdfm.co.za

Duncan & Associates would like to wish our clients and candidates a very happy and prosperous New Year – 2012.

Total number of unemployed people stood at 4,442-million in the three months to September, from 4,538-million in the second quarter

South Africa’s official unemployment rate eased to 25% of the labour force in the third quarter of this year, from 25,7% in the second quarter, a report showed on Tuesday.

In its latest quarterly Labour Force Survey, Statistics South Africa said the total number of unemployed people stood at 4,442-million in the three months to September, from 4,538-million in the second quarter.

Total employment grew 1,5% in the third quarter — the highest increase since 2009 — with trade and finance the main sectors that created jobs.

Mandla Maleka, economist at Eskom, said: “The number is still fairly elevated at 25% from 25,7%. Perhaps one can say that it is encouraging, but it does not really alleviate the problem itself.”

He added: “At 4,4-million people who are unemployed it is still very high, but it is encouraging that it came down by 0,7 percentage points.”

Employment in the formal sector had increased by 238000 jobs, while in the informal sector it had decreased by 53000 jobs. Employment in agriculture rose by 26000 jobs and fell by 19000 in private households.

There were 96000 fewer unemployed persons in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter, while the number of discouraged work seekers fell by 3000.

Compared with a year ago, employment increased by 343000, or 2,6%; unemployment rose by 46000, or 1%; the number of discouraged work seekers rose by 171000, or 8,4%; and the “other” sector (not economically active) fell by 78000, resulting in a net increase of 93000 among the overall category for those not economically active.

The expanded employment rate went down by 0.9 percentage points from 36,9% in the second quarter to 36% in the third.

The government has singled out unemployment as a major challenge for Africa’s biggest economy, after about a million jobs were lost in 2009 during the country’s first recession in nearly two decades.

On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma , speaking at a business breakfast, said the probability of another global economic downturn did not bode well for South Africa’s commitment to growing the economy and creating jobs.

Source: www.businessday.co.za

Interesting facts about Facebook

 1 in 13 people in the world today have a Facebook account. More than half of whom log in every day.

 On average, 8 friend requests are submitted by a user each month.

 25% of companies reportedly refused applicants after investigating their Facebook profile.

 27% of users do not display the status of their relationship.

 42% of men and 63% of women claimed to use Facebook to find a former lover.

 The average Facebook user has 130 friends.

 A total of 66 168 tagged photos are added on Facebook every minute.

 2.176 million private message are sent via Facebook every 20 minutes.

 Every day, 35 million people change their Facebook status.

 Every month, 38 million Facebook users visit the page „Texas Holdem Poker‟.

 Facebook‟s estimated worth is 32 billion pounds.

Ackerman joins call to relax ‘rigid’ labour laws- Manuel agrees with Gordhan on removing hurdles to job creation- PICK n Pay chairman Gareth Ackerman has added his voice to those calling for labour laws to be amended to help cut unemployment, saying yesterday SA was “crying out” for labour flexibility to help the government in its goal of creating decent jobs.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan sparked a debate this week when he said SA’s labour dispensation may require changes to accelerate job creation.

Mr Gordhan said regulations should be reviewed to make it easier for firms to hire young workers at reduced wages, to ease their way into the job market.

National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel said in response to a question in Parliament yesterday he agreed wholeheartedly with Mr Gordhan. “Nothing should get in the way of job creation.”

Mr Ackerman told the Cape Town Press Club yesterday that despite the government’s repeated commitment to job creation, it was not happening fast enough.

Citing the World Economic Forum’s warning that SA’s rigid hiring and firing practices ranked as the fifth-worst in the world, Mr Ackerman said it was “no wonder that an increasing number of enterprises are moving towards mechanised modes of production, in order to escape the burdens of an inflexible labour regime”.

“The result of this is that, despite the government’s repeated commitment to job creation, the labour intensity of production for SA has fallen by 16% since 1994. What SA is crying out for is labour flexibility. It is this, perhaps more than anything, which will create sustainable and decent jobs,” Mr Ackerman said.

The Treasury’s three-year, R5bn wage subsidy proposal was too timid an idea to make any real inroads into SA’s large youth unemployment problem, the Centre for Development and Enterprise said. “The Treasury’s wage subsidy proposal is … not a comprehensive response to the crisis of unemployment,” the centre’s executive director Ann Bernstein said yesterday, at the release of a summary of a workshop on the proposal attended by international experts, policy makers and business and labour leaders.

SA had 2,8-million people aged 18-24 in 2008 who were not studying, being trained or employed. Youth unemployment accounts for 70% of the more than 6-million jobless South Africans .

Evidence from the US, Belgium and Singapore was that wage subsidies encouraged employment, Ms Bernstein said.

However, SA should spend R15bn on the three-year wage subsidy programme, and it should be coupled with a probationary period during which subsidised workers could be dismissed on a “no questions asked” basis .

Congress of South African Trade Unions spokesman Patrick Craven said unions feared employers would use and then get rid of subsidised workers before hiring the next subsidised lot.

“If they do, so what?” asked independent labour analyst Tony Healy. “It won’t be in the spirit of the thing, but what harm does it do? A 20-year-old with two years’ experience under his belt is better off than a 20-year-old without.”

The Treasury estimated the R5bn programme would subsidise 423000 workers, and about 45000 would drop out of the labour force after benefiting from the subsidy. The average cost would be R37000 a job. The Expanded Public Works Programme created short-term, low- wage jobs at R100000 a job.

“All this — and the fact that the programme is expected to cost less than 0,2% of anticipated government spending over the next three years — suggests that the wage subsidy is a sound use of public resources,” Ms Bernstein said. With Wyndham Hartley

 Source: www.businessday.co.za

Standard Bank’s results illustrate the positive effect of its cost-cutting restructuring and its refocusing of its investment strategy. Standard Bank ’s half-year results confirm a marginal recovery in demand for credit in SA.

The bank’s results, announced yesterday, illustrated the positive effect of its cost-cutting restructuring and its refocusing of its investment strategy.

The growth in loans and advances follows an announcement this week by the Reserve Bank that a consumer-led economic recovery is under way.

Standard Bank said headline earnings increased by 11% to R6,6bn and headline earnings per share rose by 10% to 418,4c, led mainly by its personal and business banking unit.

Group CEO Jacko Maree said Standard recorded growth in loans and advances of 4%, with personal loans rising by 7% and mortgages by 5%.

This was a sign “of recovering credit demand in SA”, Mr Maree said at the bank’s results resentation in Sandton.

Imara SP Reid banking analyst Darren Coulter said Standard’s performance was better than expected — particularly the growth in loans and advances. This contrasted sharply with the decline at Nedbank and Absa , which said last week that their loan demand had yet to recover from the financial crisis.

The recovery in credit appetite shows that despite high household debt , consumers are beginning to borrow. This is expected to help to sustain consumer spending, which is key to economic growth.

Mr Maree said Standard Bank had “turned the corner” and had sharpened its appetite for expansion through organic and acquisitive growth. The bank would deploy capital from the balance sheet of its UK-based subsidiary to fund business growth, particularly in SA, he said.

It would also expand in Africa by investing in existing businesses and acquisitions, including entering new markets.

Mr Maree said the group was benefiting from last year’s restructuring of its cost base and refining of its investment strategy in response to tepid revenue growth, particularly in international operations.

The refined strategy had so far resulted in two major asset disposals in Argentina and Russia, which will net $750m when the deals close later this year and early next year.

Mr Maree said, without giving details, that further restructuring would be made at the bank’s London unit. Standard planned to achieve savings of $75m on an annualised basis at its international operations, he said, without identifying where costs would be cut.

Analysts expected the cost savings to come from the sale of Standard’s stakes in banks in Argentina and Russia, which will would reduce its presence in those markets, as well as the possible retrenchments and redeployment of UK staff.

Mr Maree said there would be no “big bang” announcements on cost cuts , and the group envisaged making “smaller” announcements as and when there were material developments to report.

Source- www.businessday.co.za