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"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.".... - Malcolm X

COSAS National Executive Committee would like to welcome the Class of 2019's Matric Results as announced by the progressive Mbokodo that we as the ANC members should be proud of, Basic Education Minister Honourable Angie Motshekga.

A constant increment in the pass rate of National Senior Certificate for the past 3 years indicates that we are indeed on the right track as the country, from 78.2% of 2018 to 81.3% for 2019 is indeed what makes us proud as the Congress of South African Students as it shows that all stakeholders involved are doing their part in making sure the future of the country is well prepared.

From the Minister, MECs of different provinces and their entire administrations, Parents, SGBs, Teachers and mostly our constituency in this regard referred to as learners we want to say Thank You for a sterling job portrait by your hard work.

This year we will be making 26 years in democracy as the country, but still we are experiencing the highest level of inequality even to young people in schools, this is disturbing and should therefore be condemned, the issue of IEB must be scrapped as an urgent matter because it has an element of making other learners feel less more important than others who have the privilege of getting different results even before them.

According to one study at the University of Cape Town, IEB candidates made up a quarter of all UCT graduates in December 2007. The drop-out rate of IEB matrics was only 2% - compared to between an estimated 35% to 50% at SA universities on the whole.

This call should be an ongoing issue as we believe in the democratic country that things should be done in a correct way, but we are making a plea with relevant stakeholders to speed up any form of process in eradicating this matter and urgently, because we don't want to see ourselves taking a route that our brothers and sisters took in 1976.

We would like to call also for the Minister to continuously call for the MECs to discuss the ways in which can see other provinces do well, we have in the recent years saw Gauteng and Free State dominating the first and second position respectively, now we ask ourselves what is it that these MECs are doing that others cannot Because we want to believe all of them have a common goal and therefore they cannot be seen competing with each other but at least seeking to see all the learners doing well, irrespective of their provinces and that's why we are saying MECs Tate Makgoe from Free State and Panyaza Lesufi of Gauteng should share with others their secrets for the betterment of the results in other provinces also.

We therefore want to congratulate Free State for reclaiming their first position with 88.4% pass rate, which they lost to Gauteng in 2018 after having it 2 consecutive terms prior that, it really shows people are hard at work that side.

The quality of the education in the country should not be compromised in everything that we are busy with in the Education Sector, we are aware though it has been withdrawn, the issue of Modularization which deals with the future of our constituencies for mere interests of pass rate and we therefore welcome the decision to also scrap it off.

We therefore call for Department of Basic Education to come up with fair system for both learning and teaching, also the issue of curriculum that does not speak to economic needs our country and its development.

We want to believe the doors of Institutions of Higher Learning are opened for this crop that has just made us proud with 81.2% pass rate, with our sister organization SASCO in that territory we have trust in them under the leadership of President Avela Mjajubana and we want to inform them should things be not the way they are supposed to be, we shall lend a helping hand in assisting to shut the Institutions of Higher Learning down to make sure they give children of the poor of the poorest the Education as they deserve it.

We would also like to encourage all our constituencies that didn't do well in their Exams, to never let go but instead stand up and move on by applying for re-write, upgrade or enroll with our more than 50 TVETs in the country. Giving up should not be an option in this instance, as it has an element of seeing young people joining unnecessary groupings in the location and end up being alcohol and drug addicts, teenage pregnancy and being victims of GBV incidents, et al...  

On that note, we would like to alert parents and those learners to be aware of bogus colleges which are not accredited, because it will be a futile exercise by learners and waste of money by parents. Therefore in order to check whether it's accredited or not, government has provided this toll-free number 0800 87 22 22 and we urge you to utilize it.

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."... - Henry Ford

Our continuous engagements with the Department regarding publishment of the results, it shall be intensified this year and we hope for the best as we are scholars and therefore we believe in engaging than going to the streets but still if we are to be pushed, we will have nothing but to go that route as we believe the 6th Administration is the listening one through the leadership of Mme Angie Motshekga.

We are to begin with our Sandra Baloyi Back to School Campaign this year, being named after the revolutionary first female President General of the Congress of South African Students, it means it shall be a revolutionary and progressive one this year. We are planning to distribute 1 Million School Shoes this year, through the relevant stakeholders from Government to Private Sectors we think this should be done without any hinder.

Today is the special day in the MDM as it's the one of which our beloved African National Congress was formed 108 years ago, on this day in 1912 President John Langalibalele Dube, Pixley Ka Isaka Seme, Sol Plaatje and others took upon themselves to form this gigantic movement that we are proud of. We therefore would like to wish the ANC a very progressive and fruitful 108 Celebration that will be held in the province of Northern Cape this coming weekend.

To all our constituencies we want to welcome you back from the holidays, we believe other schools already have opened for their Matriculants Class of 2020 as they have an understanding that for a learner to pass, it starts in January and furthermore we want them to remain calm and focus in their studies more than anything and give us a chance as we are busy rescuing our revolutionary organization of Ephraim Mogale from the political thugs.

"If you want to rebel, rebel from inside the system. That's much more powerful than to rebel from outside system."... - Marie Lu

Issued on behalf of COSAS National Executive Committee