The United Democratic Movement commends the Department of Basic Education for the improvement in the overall matric results. The hard work of the past few years seems to be paying good dividends.

However, we are concerned about the continuing underperformance of public schools. The poor performance of learners from public schools is not an indication that they are less studious than their fellow counterparts from the former Model C schools and private schools. It is indicative of the failure by the Department to improve the poor quality of teachers in public schools and adequately resource public schools to ensure that they achieve their true potential.

The Department of Basic Education gets a lion’s share of the National budget. However, when looking at the poor performance of public around the Country, it is clear that we are yet to get value for money from the Department.