Beitske van der Niet is the coordinator of the Fezile Dabi Education District’s Accounting Project.

The NWU and the Fezile Dabi Education District’s Accounting Project was introduced in 2014 and four years later the project continues to yield good results. In 2018, accounting educators from 13 schools across the Northern Free State region will experience the benefits of the project.

 

Last year, the project targeted Grade 12 learners, who attended Saturday schools arranged by the School of Accounting Sciences on the campus in Vanderbijlpark. The school also held workshops during the October recess to prepare the learners for their final examinations.

 

Beitske van der Niet, project coordinator, says the focus in 2018 will be on skills training for educators responsible for Grade 10 and 11 learners.

In all, the project will reach 180 learners, along with educators, from schools in the district.

 

Where it all started

 

In 2013, several schools in the Fezile Dabi Education District had a 0% pass rate for accounting during the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination. Clearly, this was a problem that had to be tackled urgently.

 

“One of the issues identified back then was the serious lack of sufficient training and skills development of educators, especially with regard to the accounting curriculum,” explains Beitske.

 

In a concerted effort to assist the district, the School of Accounting Sciences rolled out an intervention programme. The aim was to help educators to better understand the content of the accounting curriculum and to offer Saturday classes to Grade 12 learners who were grappling with the subject.

 

The intervention yielded good results. In 2014 the district came out top in the Free State (with a subject pass rate of 81%), and claimed the second spot in the national rankings.Beitske believes that learners will only be inspired to love accounting if they first understand the fundamentals of the subject. “Through this project we aim to empower students to perform well and by doing so motivate them to take up the accounting profession once they complete their formal schooling.”

 

The latter of course, contributes towards proactively addressing the dire need for qualified professional accountants and other financial experts in South Africa.