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A second year into the Covid-19 pandemic has failed to knock down 98.39% of the Independent Examinations Board’s (IEB’s) class of 2021 matric pupils despite the challenges faced.
The IEB, which sets and marks the final exams for most of the country’s private and independent schools, released its matric exam results that saw the overall pass rate increase by 0.32%.
The class of 2020 recorded a pass rate of 98.07%.
The board’s chief executive officer (CEO), Anne Oberholzer, described last year’s Grade 12s as the “true victims of Covid-19”, acknowledging the impact of the pandemic on the pupils’ studies.
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“As with an iceberg, the achievement we see in the class of 2021 hides the depth of the struggle and effort that underpins this success. These Grade 12 learners were the true victims of Covid-19.
“The class of 2021 has had to dig deep mentally and emotionally to find the strength to face the tremendous challenges of a radically changed teaching and learning environment of the last two years. They truly deserve the accolades they receive,” Oberholzer said on Thursday.
Some schools continued with online teaching in 2021 after the pandemic had forced them to shift from face-to-face interaction with teachers to learning at home the year before.
In light of the results, Oberholzer pointed out that one needed to consider that Grade 11 was mainly spent on ensuring that pupils have a full understanding of their respective subjects, while the curriculum in Grade 12 is completed in the first three months of their final year.
“The journey for Grade 12 candidates of 2021 was somewhat different with school closures from as early as March 2020 and then sporadically throughout the year, continuing right through their Grade 12 year.
“They experienced disruptive change of an unprecedented nature within a relatively short space of time,” the IEB chief executive continued.
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“Teaching in 2020 focused primarily on ensuring that Grade 12 learners were given as much attention as possible to ensure that they could succeed in their final examinations.
“Most Grade 11 learners in 2020 spent much less time at school and were essentially the test cases of the greatest online tuition experiment of our time. Despite its varied rate of success, one thing is certain – the use of technology in education is here to stay, as it should be,” she added.
Those who wish to have their exams remarked have until next Friday, 28 January to apply.
The remarked results will then be released on 15 March, while the closing date for pupils who qualify to register for the May/June supplementary examination is 30 March.
Pupils can access their matric results on The Citizen’s IEB matric portal and all they need is their examination number.
They can also access their results online on the IEB website or via SMS when they are released.
Matric pupils who wrote the National Senior Certificate (NSC) would have to wait until Thursday, 20 February to receive their examination results.
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