With the matric exams well under way, I would like to say good luck to each and every Mogale City matriculant who is currently writing the final exams.
A total of 790 405 candidates are writing the exams across 6 888 exam centres. Of them 629 141 are full-time candidates and the remaining 167 401 are part-time. There are a further 212 candidates registered to write at correctional facilities.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela once said: “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become the head of the mine, that a child of a farm worker can become the president of a great nation”.
Mandela went on to stay that “It is what we make out of what we have, or we are given, that separates one person from another”.
This vision has proven to be true in many instance. It is indisputable that an educated person often makes better informed decisions than those with minimal formal education.
Just to add – school fees are among the major obstacles to universal primary education.
Several countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made strides in meeting the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 by eliminating school fees, but other significant costs remain, including the cost of providing a school uniform for a child.
Our matrics should not play the victim card. Instead, they must rise above it and show the country that even though protests, environmental issues and credit crunches are putting a damper on our mood, the class of 2019 will emerge victorious.
Gauteng runs the second largest public education system after KwaZulu-Natal, with enrolment figures increasing from 1,3 million in 1994 to 2,3 million in 2018.
Gauteng has also consistently been among the best performing provinces in basic education. Our throughput rate is above 70 per cent. In the 2017 Grade 12 results, Gauteng came second after Free State, while seven of our districts were in the Top 10 nationally.
With progressed pupil included, Gauteng came tops with a 87,9 percent pass rate beating Free State which achieved 87,5 percent.
According to the Department of Basic Education, 111 775 full-time and 41 599 part-time candidates were registered in Gauteng for this year’s matric exams.
For the class of 2019 I have only one piece of advice: Be great! Don’t just reach for an A; instead, reach for the stars.
