Kamogelo Seekoei

Kamogelo Seekoei

Anusha Naidu, a director of Gauteng's Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance, thinks she has a solution to the problem of poor exam results at high schools.

Naidu believes teachers and school principals need better training and support to produce better results.

"How can we hold people accountable without equipping them for what we want them to do?" she asked.

She said that if the new education system were well understood by all stakeholders it would run smoothly.

"Being a school principal is not only about administration, but we cannot expect old principals to change overnight.

"I don't think teachers are negative but they are demoralised by the training they receive," Naidu said.

"They attend courses for only two days and are expected to produce good results."

Naidu said principals and teachers in management positions needed qualifications in management.

Lekala Matsobane, a teacher at Jabulani Junior Secondary School, in Soweto, said he and his colleagues often attended courses that extended for only five days, which was inadequate.

"At times we do not understand the material that we teach," he confessed.

Matsobane said teachers were eager to learn but needed time and space in which to absorb what they had learnt.