Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says pupils who have not passed grade 11 would have become high school dropouts had they not been pushed through to grade 12.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Wednesday that her department’s policy to promote more than 100 000 pupils has borne fruit.
Progressed pupils are pupils who failed grade 11 for two consecutive years, but are then promoted to matric.
The 2016 matric pass rate, including the results of the progressed pupils, has increased to 72.5%, 1.8% more than last year’s rate of 70.7%.
Motshekga said that providing academic support for progressed pupils had been a key focus area.
“One of the key areas in the year of 2015 was encouraging the progression of pupils who failed grade 11, or who were over [school going age], and to give them extra support,” she said.
“As a result, in 2016, we saw the largest number of progressed pupils since the promulgation of the policy. Failing pupils does not help them. We need to instead support them in areas of weakness,” Motshekga said.
“Of the progressed pupils, we managed to get over 3 000 bachelor’s degree passes and more than 12 000 diploma passes. More than 13 000 pupils were condoned and progressed.
“The significance of this achievement is that these pupils would be high school dropouts if they had not been supported,” she said. – News24