The Information Regulator’s decision to halt the publication of matric results in newspapers marks the end of a long-standing tradition where eager and anxious matriculants would rush to grab the first papers of the day to see their results proudly displayed alongside their peers.

It has instructed the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to refrain from publishing the Matric 2024 results in newspapers and has requested permission before doing so.

According to a report by MyBroadBand, the DBE was found to have breached personal information processing laws by failing to obtain consent from learners and their parents or guardians before publishing matric marks in newspapers.

The Information Regulator also said that no legal justification existed for the DBE to continue publishing the results in the newspapers.

Alternatively, the DBE should give the results to the learners in a manner that complies with the PoPI Act.

The Information Regulator directed the DBE to obtain consent from 2025 matriculants and their parents or guardians before publishing their results in newspapers.

According to MyBroadBand, the DBE must also create a system to obtain consent from learners for this purpose.

If the enforcement notice is not followed, the regulator has instructed the DBE not to publish the 2025 matric results.

Meanwhile, it was revealed at the start of this year that South Africa’s “real” 2023 matric pass rate is 51.3%, significantly lower than the number the Department of Basic Education (DBE) announced.

Basic education minister Angie Motshekga said 897,775 matrics registered for exams, including 715,719 full-time and 182,056 part-time candidates.

Of the full-time registered candidates, only 691,690 wrote the exams. 572,983 — or 82.9% — of these candidates passed the exams.

This was the highest “official” pass rate yet, beating the previous record of 81.3% for the Class of 2019. It was also 2.8% higher than the pass rate of the Class of 2022.

However, the pass rate does not reflect how many of the learners dropped out of school before matric — or even between enrolling at the start of the year and sitting the exams in November.

Also read: NPA under fire for granting ‘special treatment’ to convicted rapists

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram