The 2025 school year came to an end last week, with teachers, pupils and other members of staff now enjoying a well-deserved summer holiday. It is therefore an ideal time to review the academic year that has flashed by so quickly. Pupils are generally the recipients of year-end report cards, but they are not the only stakeholders involved in education, neither should they be the only ones to be appraised.
The performance of other major stakeholders should also be reported on, in order to put the year into perspective. The most important criterion that determines pupil performance, and ultimately whether they progress to the next grade, is their achievement level. These levels range from level one (not achieved), level two (elementary achievement), level three (moderate achievement), level four (adequate achievement), level five (substantial achievement), level six (meritorious achievement) and level seven (excellent achievement).
Similarly, the performance of our education authorities should be judged by their achievements throughout the year. At the pinnacle of the education hierarchy are officials of the national, provincial and district departments of Education. In order to gauge their performance, the following questions must be asked: Have they performed effectively to warrant their status as custodians of an education system that controls the future of millions of pupils in our country?
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Have they displayed dedication and commitment to ensure that pupils receive a quality education? Have they performed consistently throughout the year to warrant a pass mark? People who are au fait with the mechanisms of education will consider these questions to be rhetorical questions.
Officials of these departments of Education have certainly not covered themselves in glory, and their report cards make for depressing reading. Since the beginning of the year, education in South Africa, and in KwaZulu-Natal in particular, has been rocked by one scandal after the other, and education officials have been at the forefront of these scandals. One of the scandals revolved around the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) which provides meals for over 2 million pupils in KZN. Evidence has shown that irregularities, political interference and fraud were prevalent in the awarding of tenders to service providers.
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