Cape Town - The Western Cape has maintained an above 80% pass rate, achieving an increased percentage pass rate from 81.5% in 2018 to 82.3% in 2019 matric results.
The province has also achieved the highest percentage of distinctions in the country, with an increased number and percentage of bachelor passes - 21 981 candidates achieved a bachelor pass, equalling 43.6% of candidates, compared to 42.3% last year.
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said she was pleased with the performance of the Western Cape, “especially given the difficulties we’re facing as a result of inadequate funding and safety concerns”.
Schäfer said the pass rates needed to be seen in the context of the retention rate from Grade 10-12, as it could be tempting to cull learners between Grades 10 and 12 to enhance the matric pass rate.
“If we consider Grade 10 enrolment in 2017 at both public and independent schools, to those that wrote at both public and independent schools, I am pleased that we have seen an improvement in retention of those entering Grade 10 in 2017 and those entering to write the National Senior Certificate (NSC) in 2019, from 62.9% in 2018 to 64.3% in 2019,” Schäfer said.
She said another important factor to analyse was the number and percentage of learners writing the multiple exams opportunity (MEO).
“While some provinces have up to 20% of candidates taking the MEO examination, the Western Cape has only 3%. This is the lowest in the country, indicating that more learners are being given the opportunity to write and complete the full examination, while still retaining an over 80% pass rate.” Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga last night announced the national matric results, and said the matric class of 2019 had achieved a pass rate of 81.3%, up from 78.2% in 2018, breaching the 80% threshold for the first time.
ANC deputy chief whip and spokesperson on education in the Western Cape, Khalid Sayed, said 82.3% was not a considerable improvement.
“This province was at one stage the best. It has sadly yet again lost that place.”
Sayed said more still needed to be done, especially regarding overcrowded classrooms and drop-outs, however, he said the ANC welcomed the slight improvement.
Equal Education researcher Malin Steinsland said while the release of the matric results remained a critical moment for hundreds of thousands of learners, “these results do not provide a good indication of the health of the education system as a whole”.
Steinsland said celebrating this pass rate has become almost farcical - “every year experts petition Motshekga to place greater emphasis on the percentage of Grade 2 learners who leave school with a matric certificate a decade later.
“Instead of treating a symptom - by declaring that learners drop out because they aren’t academically inclined - the education department must make every effort to ensure that learners receive quality education in the foundation phase.
“This will allow them to choose their own academic pathways rather than be forced into one - or out of school entirely - by a failing system.”
Chairperson of the National Assembly committee on basic education, Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, said it was necessary to appreciate the results of the good work done by the education department and other role-players and learn from the challenges encountered, in order to improve next year.
Mbinqo-Gigaba said that was a testament to the department’s effective planning in its efforts to ensure a quality matric examination process.
South African Teachers Union executive member Chris Klopper said they were concerned about the declining performance of candidates in subjects such as economics, maths and life sciences, and called on Motshekga to institute research into the reasons for the decline, as well as to find satisfactory explanations for the declining numbers of candidates taking these subjects, “which were crucial to the development of South Africa”.