The 2024 matric results were announced by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube on Monday, 13 January. Picture: File photo
The Free State is being heralded as the country’s top-performing province with an impressive 91% matric pass rate, but commentators reckon the numbers belie the true state of schooling in the province.
According to emeritus professor in education at the University of Stellenbosch, Michael le Cordeur, the Free State has the highest rate of pupils who drop out of the system from Grade 10 to matric.
“One way or another, the Free State convinces pupils not to take the full-time exam or to leave school.
“But that’s how they do it,” he claimed.
Also weighing in on the Free State matric pass rate, Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS) CEO, Dr Jaco Deacon, told Netwerk24 that Free State pupils “are not the children who take difficult subjects either. It [the results of the province] has a hint of manipulation”.
The Class of 2024 achieved a record 87.3% matric pass rate, the highest in the country’s history, while Independent Examinations Board (IEB) candidates achieved a pass rate of 98.47%.
Political party Build One South Africa (Bosa) noted that the “real” matric pass rate is much lower, at 50%.
The “real” matric pass rate is calculated by accounting for the number of learners who dropped out or otherwise never made it to matric.
Of the 1.22 million learners who began school in Grade 1 in 2013, only 614,562 passed matric in 2024, meaning that the country’s “real” pass rate is just 50.25%.
KwaZulu-Natal achieved an 89.5% pass rate, which represents a 3.1% improvement from the previous year, catapulting the province into the spot of second-best performing province.
Speaking after Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwaruba’s announcement of the Class of 2024’s record pass rate, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli said the province is “firmly on track towards our 90% target”.
Deacon however said that while KwaZulu-Natal’s performance has contributed to the record national pass rate, the provincial department is “plunged into chaos”.
Hugo Vermeulen, head of training at Solidarity’s School Support Centre (SOS), said the large number of distinctions in Zulu and life orientation could explain the province’s performance.
“80% of those in the province who take Zulu as their home language or first additional language, get distinctions.
“In addition, teachers can help you enormously with your mark for life orientation and suddenly a child who would just pass gets two distinctions and maybe even university admission,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gwarube mentioned during the department’s announcement of the results that 47.8% of matriculants qualified for admission to Bachelor’s Degree studies, up from 40.9% in 2023.
This 6.9% increase represents the highest number of Bachelor passes in recent history, with most of these coming from schools in lower-income areas (Quintiles 1 to 3).
“We want to appreciate the good work the teachers have done, and we are saying they must continue to teach our learners from Grade R until Grade 12. We are not only focusing on Grade 12 but on the whole system because the outcome of Grade 12 is a product of Grade R and 1,” said Gwarube.
NOW READ: ‘Remarkable’ matrics defy the odds
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
