The matric class of 2024 have recorded the highest matric pass rate ever achieved in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations – 87.3%.
Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube said every province improved its pass rate. The top performer was the Free State which obtained a 91% pass rate. KwaZulu-Natal came second with a pass rate of 89.5%, marking an increase of 3.2% from 2023.
“South Africa’s national pass rate for the 2024 National Senior Certificate has increased from 82.9% in 2023 to 87.3%. This is the highest matric pass rate in the history of our country and should be a moment of great pride and celebration for all of us,” said Gwarube.
“When we consider the number of learners that progressed from Grade 10 to Grade 12, we have achieved a throughput rate of 63%. This is in line with other middle-income countries.”
The minister said to measure the quality of education outcomes in the NSC examinations, one had to look at the number of passes which allow admission to Bachelor’s degree studies in tertiary institutions.
“I am pleased to announce that, in the class of 2024, nearly half of the learners who wrote the NSC examinations received a Bachelor pass; 47.8% of candidates qualified for admission to Bachelor studies, which is a significant improvement from last year’s 40.9% and represents the highest number of Bachelor passes in recent history. This is a 6.9% increase from last year.
“In 2024, I am pleased to announce that KwaZulu-Natal achieved the highest number of Bachelor passes with 84 470, followed by Gauteng with 66 979 and the Eastern Cape with 45 662. I am also incredibly encouraged by the fact that approximately 67% of the Bachelor passes achieved in 2024 came from Quintile 1 to 3 schools, which are typically found in our poorer communities. This percentage represents an increase from 2023.”
She said pupils achieved 319 651 distinctions. “This represents a significant increase of over 65 000 distinctions from last year. Some of these increases were seen in key subjects, including mathematics. I am pleased to report that every province increased the number of distinctions achieved in 2023. KwaZulu-Natal was the top performing province in terms of the percentage of candidates obtaining distinctions, with 10.8% distinction potential achieved,” she said.
While the improved pass rate was welcomed, experts said the type of pass achieved and the subjects being taken was increasingly more important in an environment where jobs were scarce and there were rapid advancements in technology.
Education expert Professor Labby Ramrathan, of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the focus should now be on those studying and passing subjects like mathematics and science, which were key to the global economy and development.
“We have to look at how many people are studying maths, how many people are studying science, and how many people are studying languages. We all should know maths, and we all should know language in order to communicate.”
He said that of the thousands of pupils who were going to graduate, only 17% to 18% would make it to university, and the rest would have to equip themselves with the skills the country needed.
Dr Zamokuhle Mbandlwa, an academic from the Durban University of Technology, said the focus should be on quality, not quantity.
“The pass rate is meaningless; it is a political tool that is used as a gimmick by politicians to present themselves as working; it is not for the pupils.
“We should be looking at how many of these students have achieved a university pass, how many get learnerships. We cannot continue to celebrate the increasing pass rate for people who are not getting into universities or are unable to secure any form of employment,” he said.
Vee Gani, of the KZN Parents Association, said there was too much focus on the pass rate while the real challenges in the system were ignored.
“Firstly, we must congratulate the teachers and all the people that contribute to the pass rate, and for the pupils, the fact that you made it to Grade 12 is an accolade.
“However without raining on anyone’s parade, we should ask what exactly we are celebrating with the pass rate. With the pass mark being so low, we are celebrating mediocrity. We are forgetting that a large number of pupils who start Grade 1 do not make it to Grade 12,” he said.