OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 3.45pm.
HALF of the matriculants nationwide failed their 1999 exams according to final results released on Thursday.
The national pass rate dropped to 48,9% from 49,3% in 1998, but Education Minister Kader Asmal said on Thursday that this was cause for “sober reflection” rather than major disappointment.
At a media briefing in Cape Town, where the results for all nine provinces were released, he said that 1036 schools recorded a pass rate of between nought and 20%.
He said that he and provincial education MECs have set themselves a target of a five per cent improvement in the results in the coming year.
He rejected suggestions that this year’s teachers’ strikes had materially affected the exams, saying only five teaching days were lost to strike action and that many teachers had made this up with extra lessons.
Asmal said three provinces — Northern Province, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal — have improved on last year’s results, while the other six have declined.
Of these the Eastern Cape registered the biggest drop, from 45,1 to 40,2%.
Despite a 0,2% drop from the 79% achieved last year, the Western Cape is once again top of the class with a 78,8% matric pass rate that far outstrips the rest of the country.
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.
In KwaZulu-Natal 50,7% of pupils passed; in the Free State 42,1% passed; in the North West 52,1% passed and Mpumalanga 48,3% passed. 64,3% of the Northern Cape’s pupils have reason to celebrate this millenium.