By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has published the final National Senior Certificate (NSC) results for the 2024 matric year, showing a percentage point increase in the pass rate to 87.3%.
Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube announced the results of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams at an event on Monday evening, saying that the matric pass rate is not the only important figure in education, but it is a strong indicator of progress.
This is an improvement of 6.4 percentage points on the Class of 2023’s 82.9% pass rate and is the highest since the dawn of democracy.
The class of 2024 has obtained 47.8% Bachelor passes (337,158 matrics), up significantly from 40.9% in 2023.
Free State pass rate was 91%, KwaZulu-Natal recorded an 89.5% pass rate, Gauteng produced an 88.4% pass rate, North West attained an 87.5% pass rate, Western Cape achieved an 86.6% pass rate, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape, achieved an 85% pass, while Northern Cape recorded an 84.2% pass rate.
Speaking at the announcement, Deputy Minister of Education Dr Reginah Mhaule weighed in on the debate around the pass requirements, saying students who underachieved, especially in key subjects, would not be pushed through for the sake of a better pass rate.
“30% is not a pass in South Africa. It has never been. If a candidate gets an aggregated average of 30% they cannot proceed. They will have failed. There are myths and misinformation peddled year after year. The department welcomes constructive criticism and any meaningful dialogue on this.”
Gwarube said the national department would work with provincial departments to strategically realign the focus towards quality education from foundation phase.
A unique feather in their cap is that they are the last set of pupils to have been in high school during the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, having just begun Grade 8 when schools were shut.
Gwarube congratulated them on their resilience.
“We are proud of the Class of 2024. They worked very hard under difficult circumstances. Proving that from the harshest conditions, greatness can bloom.”
Matriculants are advised to collect their statement of results at their schools or centers where they wrote their exams from Tuesday, 14 January.
Meanwhile Gwarube has confirmed there has been a possible breach of the matric results for the class of 2024.
Gwarube revealed this on the sidelines of the congratulatory breakfast held in Johannesburg on Monday, 13 January in honour of the top-achieving matriculants of 2024.
This comes after a private company advertised that it would give the anxious matriculants early access to the results for as little as R100.
The minister said the potential breach became apparent 48 hours ago, but because of the sensitivity of the investigation the department was not at liberty to divulge any details.
Gwarube assured, however, that the results had been insulated from the breach, meaning they were not altered in any way. The breach “seems to have” involved the results that have already been verified, she added.
The origins of the breach remain unclear, and State Security and the Hawks have been roped in to investigate.
The minister said they must still determine whether the breach originated from inside the department, or was the result of cybercrime.