The Eastern Cape Department of Education's (ECDOE) Mathematics, Science, and Technology (MST) directorate is taking proactive steps to enhance learner performance and service delivery in these critical subjects. They recently hosted a Conditional Grant meeting with school principals, addressing challenges in MST subjects and how to improve education outcomes.

This collaborative effort with school principals seeks to improve academic achievement in MST subjects, develop teachers' skills and knowledge in MST subjects, as well as encourage collaboration between schools, stakeholders, and the Department.

Monwabisi Mbangeni, Cluster A Chief Director, highlighted that the purpose of this engagement is to discuss priority needs and activities, to ensure effective execution and support. "From our engagements, educators and school principals have indicated that they need to be capacitated, they still want to maintain and obtain the status of being the focus schools because of being given the material that they are not able to use. This capacitation will help them improve the performance of Mathematics, Physical Science and Technology. We have noted from the presentations that there are schools still struggling with mathematics and Physical Science, our intention is to make them improve their performance", emphasized Mbangeni.

According to Sibongile Beje who is an Education Management Information System Director, the ECDOE has shown improvements in recent years, with the national pass rate increasingly varying with number of learners achieving bachelor passes. He said that by analyzing these indicators and implementing targeted strategies, our department can work towards improving learner performance and achieving better outcomes in the NSC (National Senior Certificate) examinations.

Familiarizing the Educators and Schools Principals with the business plan and ways to implement it, was Director of MST unit, Pumzile Mashalaba stating that calling Educators and Schools Principals to this meeting will grant them an opportunity to strategies for ways which they can find to improve maths and science subjects. " We will consolidate and make plans to review what has not worked properly then put more on that with the assurance of improvement”, said Mashalaba.