NATIONAL NEWS - South Africa’s national pass rate for 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam is 87,3% which is an increase of 4,4% from 82,9% in 2023.
Announcing the Class of 2024 matric results this evening in Johannesburg, National Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said more than 615 000 learners passed the exam, which is more than any other time in the country’s history.
The highest pass rate was achieved by the Free State at 91%, with KwaZulu-Natal second with 89.5%, Gauteng third with 88.4 %, North West fourth with 87.5%, and the Western Cape fifth with 86.6%.
The pass rates of the other provinces are as follows: Limpopo - 85.01%; Mpumalanga - 84.99%; Eastern Cape - 84.98%; and Northern Cape - 84.2%.
Distinctions
"The Class of 2024 achieved an impressive number of more than 319 000 distinctions. This represents a massive increase from last year and some of these increases we are seeing in key subjects, including Maths," said Gwarube.
Every province increased their number of distinctions compared with 2023.
Gwarube said 47,8% of matriculants achieved a bachelor’s pass, the highest number in recent years. It represents an increase of 6,9% over 2023. About 67% of the bachelor’s passes is from quintile 1 and quintile 2 schools, which means the poorer communities have made the biggest contribution to this figure. KZN achieved the highest number of bachelor’s passes (84 000) with Gauteng second most (66 000) and the Eastern Cape third most (45 000).
Western Cape pass rate up
The Western Cape’s pass rate of 86.6% is a 5.1% increase on 2023 and is the province's highest National Senior Certificate (NSC) pass rate ever.
According to the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), the province's bachelor's pass rate, a crucial indicator of the quality of matric passes, has also increased by 5.6% to 47.8%. This is also the highest bachelor's pass rate the department has achieved to date.
Western Cape top in Maths, Science
The Western Cape achieved the top Mathematics and top Physical Science pass rates again this year, with a Mathematics pass rate of 78.0%, and Physical Science pass rate of 79.4%.
The highest number of subject distinctions to date has also been achieved, with 11 699 candidates achieving a total of 27 948 distinctions for the second highest distinctions rate in the country.
The Western Cape has the second highest pass rate in the country for Learners with Special Education Needs (LSEN) at 91.0%, and the highest bachelor's pass rate in the country for LSEN learners at 63.3%.
The province has the highest retention rate from Grade 10 to 12 in the country at 68.3%, and nearly 3 800 more Western Cape learners passed their matric exam this year compared with 2023.
Top candidates in the country from the Western Cape
The Western Cape's candidates shone on the national stage, with four of the province's matriculants receiving awards tonight, including the top candidate in the country, Rayyan Ebrahim from Pinelands High School.
“The top candidate in the country has come from the Western Cape in seven of the past eight NSC exams. We only skipped 2020,” said a proud David Maynier, Western Cape Education minister.
The other top candidates in South Africa from the Western Cape are:
Top candidate in Quintile 5:
1st place: Rayyan Ebrahim – Pinelands High School
2nd place: Matthew Christopher Wise – Pinelands High School
3rd place: Nicholas David Schreiber – Rondebosch Boys' High School
Top candidate in South African Sign Language:
2nd place: Jordan Raubenheimer – De La Bat School
Maynier congratulated the Class of 2024. "Thank you for the hard work that you put in to ensure that you achieved your goals. You made a decision to invest in your own futures, and we can’t wait to see what you will go on to achieve after matric."
He said the outstanding results would not have been possible without the support of matric teachers and matric parents.
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