Cape Town — The response in the political sphere to the 2023 matric pass rate has been mixed, with some questioning the accuracy of the figures.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced on Thursday that 82.9% of the matric candidates who sat the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam passed, an increase of 2.8 percentage points from the 2022 class (80.1%).
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), however, disputed the pass rate, saying that if the learners who dropped out of school before matric were included, the real pass rate was 55.6%. It said its figure also took into account the learners who may have dropped out to attend technical colleges.
“The real matric pass rate is an excellent indicator of not only Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and her department’s lack of success, but also of the country’s,” said the DA’s Baxolile Nodada.
“This ANC government’s only focus seems to be quantity over quality, thinking that it is an improvement from previous years.”
Businesstech reports that the 595,000 learners who passed matric in 2023 represent only about 53% of the learners who started school in 2012.
The Economic Freedom Fighters congratulated the Class of 2023, but drew attention to the fact that their achievements came against the backdrop of numerous challenges, including 332 days of load shedding, dilapidated and overcrowded classrooms, and inadequate access to decent drinking water and sanitation in schools, according to News24.
While GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron also congratulated the successful candidates, he warned that “the greatest threat to our human and economic progress is an education system that fails to prepare young people for the future world of work. We need an overhaul of education to achieve this.”
Congratulations class of 2023 on successfully completing your schooling.
The greatest threat to our human & economic progress is an education system that fails to prepare young people for the future world of work.
We need an overhaul of education to achieve this.#Matric2023
— Brett Herron 🇿🇦🍉 (@brettherron) January 18, 2024
Maths and science
Meanwhile, the Western Cape, which recorded the fifth-best matric results among the provinces, is celebrating the fact that its maths and science learners came tops in the country.
The province achieved a pass rate of 81.54%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from 2022. Free State recorded a pass rate of 89%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal (86.4%), Gauteng (85.4%) and North West (81.6%), reports Daily Maverick.
The Western Cape education department announced that its candidates achieved a maths pass rate of 75.4%, doing even better in physical science with a pass rate of 82.2%.
“These are critical subjects for the national and provincial economy, so we are pleased to see improvements in both compared to 2022,” said David Maynier, the provincial minister of education.
In addition, he said all the Western Cape candidates who passed the NSC – all 50 520 of them – achieved a bachelor’s pass, which qualifies them to attend university.
The province also had the second-highest number of distinctions with 24 982 subject distinctions out of a total of 253 807 distinctions.
‘This is an incredible achievement considering the events of 2023, including a devastating minibus taxi strike and an illegal blockade of learner transport in Khayelitsha, two massive floods, and ongoing crippling loadshedding,’ said Maynier.
SowetanLive reported that KwaZulu-Natal achieved the most distinctions.
Quoting education director-general Mathanzima Mweli, it said four out of every 10 of the pupils who wrote the NSC received one distinction.
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