A high school principal from Hexvallei Secondary School was reinstated with back pay after his dismissal was found to be substantively unfair regarding the deregistration of 18 Grade 12 pupils that were deemed underperformers and ‘unlikely to pass their matric exams’.
The practice, known as gatekeeping or the ‘culling of pupils’, is widely seen to artificially inflate a school’s matric results, as reported by News24. Arnold Mei, the headmaster, has maintained that this does ‘not amount to gatekeeping’.
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‘We see it as an option to improve our results but not necessarily as gatekeeping,’ said Mei.
The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) found Mei’s dismissal was unfair and ordered the department to reinstate him from 1 June and, in addition, pay him R302 135 in back pay.
Mei was fired by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) for allegedly ‘unfairly prejudicing the administration of the school by proceeding to deregister Grade 12 learners’
This is in contravention of the department’s policy on public schools’ admissions and registration of learners.
Mei had testified that the department had set a target of a 70% pass rate for his matrics, according to a transcript of the hearing.
‘They had tried to improve the learners’ performance by providing extra guidance and tuition, but they did not improve,’ said Mei.
‘The decision to deregister the learners was taken together with the school management team and in consultation with the parents of the learners,’ he added.
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WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond has stated that the deregistration of learners for poor performance is not permitted.
Schools have a responsibility in terms of the South African Schools Act to investigate and assist parents and learners to remedy the situation, where possible to ensure all learners of ‘compulsory school-going age attend school’, according to Hammond.
Hammond added that targets were set to improve the results of pupils.
‘The department has always and will continue to advocate for the retention of learners within the system,’ said Hammond.
‘While this may impact on our overall ‘ranking’ in the NSC [national senior certificate], we are more focused on ensuring that more learners can have the opportunity to write and pass their NSC,’ she added.
The deregistration of pupils to ‘chase pass rates’ was widely discouraged, according to Hammond.
‘That is why the charges were brought against the educator,’ said Hammond.
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