The national matric class of 2015 holds the record for the highest number of grade 12 enrolments in the history of the country’s basic education system.
This was the announcement made by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga during a media briefing held at the Vodaworld headquarters in Midrand early this evening where she also officially revealed a 5.1% decrease from the national pass rate of 2014 .
The provincial percentage breakdown for the 2015 basic educational year is as follows:
- Western Cape 84.7% – an increase of 2.5% from 2014
- Eastern Cape 56.8% – a decrease of 8.6% from 2014
- KwaZulu-Natal 60.7% – a decrease of 9% from 2014
- Limpopo 65.9% – a decrease of 9% from 2014
- Northern Cape 69.4% – a decrease of 7% from 2014
The following provinces recorded only marginal differences in comparison to the previous year:
- Mpumalanga 78.6%
- North West 81.2%
- Free State 81.6%
- Gauteng 84.2%
Motshekga said the department faced much criticism over the years regarding the quality of the national assessments. Therefore, the standards for the class of 2015 were much higher and, while she herself was taken aback by the difficulty of some of the question papers, she was proud at how well many of the learners tackled them.
Of the 455 825 learners who succeeded last year, 166 263 obtained bachelor passes. In comparison to 2014, the bachelor pass rate sat at 150 737. Differentiating between the sexes, Motshekga revealed that 90 027 of the 243 108 girls who passed qualify for university entrance in comparison to the 76 236 out of the 212 717 boys.
Education quality assurance council Umalusi ruled that the assessments were free, fair and credible and the department has devised a plan to help those who failed to meet the basic pass requirements.
Motshekga said: “We have a special plea to all learners who didn’t succeed. This is not the end of the world. We have a special intervention to assist all of you. The Second Chance Matric Programme is intended to provide support to learners who have not been able to meet the requirements of the National Senior Certificate by increasing learner retention … We will officially unveil the full details of this programme tomorrow.”