IN Gauteng, the matric pass rate improved to 57,1%, up from 55,6% in 1998, however only 37,5% of matric candidates in the Northern Province passed the 1999 exam. “We have successfully arrested the decline and turned the tide,” said an optimistic Gauteng Education MEC Ignatius Jacobs. Some 71757 candidates wrote matric in the province, earning between them 10836 distinctions — 500 more than last year, although 5000 fewer pupils sat the exam. The bleaker pass rate in the Northern Province is the lowest of the seven provinces which have so far released their results. The good news is it is 2,3% percent up on the 1998 figure.