The DA congratulated each and every learner who passed the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam and wishes them the best on the road ahead.

However, whilst Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and the Department of Education are celebrating an all-time high matric pass rate of 81.3%, the Democratic Alliance can reveal that the real pass rate is in fact 38.9%. In 2017, a total of 1 052 080 learners were enrolled in grade 10, yet only 409 906 learners eventually passed matric last year. This means only 38.9% of grade 10 learners actually wrote and passed matric.

This is for the most part due to an extraordinarily high drop-out rate, which means that hundreds of thousands of learners are denied the chance to write matric, let alone pass it.

“This is an indication of a dismally failing system, not a functional and successful one. The DA-led Western Cape is the province with the lowest drop-out rate (33.4%) and therefore the highest real pass rate, standing at 54.8%. The real national pass rate for 2018 was 37.6%. The real pass rate of 2019 is, therefore, an improvement of a mere 1.3%,” Nomsa Marchesi MP (DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education) said in a press release.

She added that the DBE punts the national pass rate because it shifts the focus from their perpetual failures as an ANC government. The slow poison of drop-out rates between grades 10 and 12 is eating away at the future of the youth of this country. Since 2015, which saw the highest number of pupils who sat to write their matric exam, there has been a steady decline each year. This should be a real and urgent concern for the DBE. A further concern is the shocking pass rate from June results of the Multi Examination Opportunity (MEO) – only a disappointing 7.1% passed.

“Nevertheless, however dismal this percentage is, it is used to inflate the pass rate and when phased out this year, the high drop-out rates will inevitably increase. Only then will we see the real performance of the Department. Every child has the right to quality basic education. If we carry on this trajectory, more than half of all learners who start Grade 1 this year, will never see the inside of a NSC-exam room,” she said.

She urged the nation not to allow the wool to be pulled over their eyes and neglect the hundreds of thousands of young South Africans, failed by the system and who will most likely never be able to enter the formal labour market.

Plaaslike matriekleerders het hul uiters knap van hul taak gekwyt en spog met talle onderskeidings.

Hoër Volkskool in Heidelberg spog met ‘n 99.2% slaagsyfer. Die matriekuitslae is vandag (8 Januarie) bekendgemaak en Human van der Merwe is Hoër Volkskool se beste leerder met agt onderskeidings.

Hoërskool John Vorster het ‘n slaagsyfer van 97% behaal, met Phumelele Nxumalo as top presteer. Sy het ses onderskeidings behaal.

Mountain View High School in Bergsig, Heidelberg has a pass rate of 88% and Ryan Shingange is the top learner with two distinctions.