Matric results over the last five years – Here’s where Gwarube is picking up from 

For the first time in 14 years, the matric results will be announced by a different basic education minister, after Angie Motshekga was moved from the portfolio last year since her appointment in 2009.

Minister Siviwe Gwarube will be doing the honours on Monday, 13 January, before the results are released to the public on Tuesday.

According to the department, 727 121 full-time and 155 215 part-time candidates sat for the 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) matric exams.

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About 16 400 students wrote the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) exams.

The class of 2024 started high school in 2020 when the country went into a lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over the last five years, the matric class of 2023 achieved the highest overall pass rate with 82.9%, followed by the class of 2019 with 81.3%, 2022 with 80.1%, 2021 with 76.4% and the class hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, with 76.2%.

As Gwarube prepares to announce the overall pass rate for the class of 2024, here’s a recap of how the past five years fared.

Matric results 2019

In 2019, about 617 429 candidates sat for the 2019 NSC examinations. Of these, 504 303 were full-time candidates and 106 385 were part-time candidates. The overall pass rate during this year was 81.3%.

This was the class that made it just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, with Motshekga at the time commending an exam system that was “stabilising”.

“The achievements of the class of 2019 confirm that the standard and quality of the South African examinations system is improving annually and stabilising. The proficiency of our education system is confirmed by: An improvement in the pass rate and quality of passes in many gateway subjects,” said Motshekga at the time.

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“A noteworthy and credible increase in the percentage of learners who achieved the NSC. A significant increase in the percentage of learners qualifying for admission to bachelor’s studies. Phenomenal gains in the margins of improvement among Quintile 1 to 3 schools. As we celebrate the Class of 2019, it is appropriate to applaud the astounding achievements of the champions of the Class of 2019. These are learners who have persevered despite all odds to ensure that they make our country proud.”

Matric 2020

The 2020 class was the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, as in March of that year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a hard lockdown of the country to curb the spread of the virus.

Schools were closed and learning disturbed, and the matric results of that year were evidence of the hardships the pupils met throughout the year.

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“We did not expect the system to be faced with a devastating pandemic that engrossed education systems, teaching and learning, parents and learners across the world into crisis. This unfortunately impacted on the performance of the Class of 2020,” said Motshekga at the time.

A total of 578 468 full-time candidates sat for the 2020 NSC examinations. The overall pass rate for the 2020 cohort —  76.2% —  represented a decrease of 5.1 percentage points from 81.3% in 2019.

“Although there is a decrease in the pass percentage, there has been a notable increase in the number of learners that attained the National Senior Certificate,” said Motshekga.

“The achievement of the Class of 2020 should be acknowledged with due respect to the fallen heroes of the education sector. In the past year, the sad loss of teachers and officials who succumbed to the pandemic has robbed learners, families, the education sector and society of a multitude of individual talents, skills, dedication, and commitment that served generations of South African children from early learning to adolescence.”

Matric 2021

The class of 2021 achieved a pass rate of 76.4%, compared to 76.2% for the 2020 group — a 0.2% increase from the previous year.

The class of 2021 was also affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, as the government still enforced a lockdown at different levels throughout the year.

During this year, 36.4% of pupils received a bachelor’s degree pass, 25.2% achieved a diploma pass and 14.8% achieved a higher certificate pass.

A total of 897 163 candidates registered to write the 2021 NSC examination, which was an increase of 23.6% from 2020.

This included 733 198 full-time students and 163 967 part-time candidates.

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“The resilience our school community has shown against the devastating pandemic cannot go by unnoticed,” said Motshekga at the time.

“We must continue with the consolidation of programmes for Early Childhood Development (ECD); we must ramp up performance in all four phases of our schooling system; continue to improve reading proficiency; and work with all our partners to consolidate the gains we have made in the skills revolution through the Three-Stream Curriculum Model and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, whilst strengthening the assessment regime in all four Phases of the system.”

Matric results 2022

The 2022 National Senior Certificate (NSC) overall pass rate stood at 80.1% – an improvement of 3.7% from the pass rate achieved by the Class of 2021.

According to Motshekga, 922 034 pupils sat down for the NSC exams at the time, an increase of 2 600 from the previous year.

“The performance of this cohort remained high despite the challenges,” she said.

“We thank pupils for putting in the hours and avoiding the well-beaten path to failure by being slack. We thank the teachers for recognising the spark of greatness in these learners and lighting a fire under them. Success beckons success! Go forth and conquer.

“To tower over your peers is no fluke, an accident of history, but it is a triumph reserved for those whose greatness is yet to be experienced.”

Matric 2023

This was the last exam that Motshekga presided over, and it is also one where she achieved the highest overall pass rate.

During this year, 897 775 full-time and part-time candidates, enrolled in the the 2023 NSC examinations.

Of the 897 775, about 715 719 were full-time candidates, while 182 056 were part-time candidates.

About 56.4% of the total number of candidates who wrote the 2023 NSC exams, were girls, while 43.6% were boys.

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The overall pass rate for this year was 82.9%.

About 42% of the girls and 39.6% of the boys who wrote the 2023 NSC exams attained bachelor passes, while 26.1% of the girls and 28.6% of the boys, attained diploma passes.

Motshekga said 14.8% of the girls and 14.6% of the boys attained Higher Certificate passes, while 66.4% of the distinctions were attained by the girls.