Educate to rehabilitate   

The matric 2020 inmate pass rate is the highest in five years, at 86.3%, with 76 distinctions and 78 bachelor passes.

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola congratulated the matriculants at an awards ceremony held recently at Leeuwkop Correctional Centre in Johannesburg.

Last year, the department registered 160 inmates at 17 correctional centre schools. When the country was placed under lockdown, the inmates switched to online  learning, including radio and television teaching and learning programmes.

“We congratulate our learners and teachers for their resilience. We extend our gratitude to the Department of Basic Education for its continued support. This performance is yet another great affirmation to the transforming journey of our correctional facilities into centres of new beginnings. “Our pass rate this year is higher than the national average of 76.2%. It’s also higher than the highest provincial percentage of 85.1% attained by the Free State. We are pleased that our results increased, even in the 2020 unprecedented year."

The inmate pass rates for the past five years were:

• 2015 - 72.9%
• 2016 - 72.1 %
• 2017 - 76.7%
• 2018 - 77.3%
• 2019 - 82.6%.

The best performing learner for 2020 was Lwazi Chamane, from Usethubeni Youth Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, with an average of 80.6% and four distinctions in IsiZulu, life orientation, history and tourism. Chamane, now a parolee, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for armed robbery.

He has vowed to never return to the life of crime. "When I arrived at Westville Prison and found that there is a school, I took a decision to better my life. On the outside, there are plenty of disruptions, so this was an opportunity for me to focus.”

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, also at the awards ceremony, congratulated the group. “In the absence of education, nothing can happen. This must not be education for the sake of education, but must rather be education for change and repositioning our country."