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By Johnathan Paoli
Matriculants spent Monday night on tenterhooks waiting to hear how they performed in their final exams.
Earlier in the day, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube announced that the Class of 2024 achieved a historical pass rate of 87.3%. A total of 615,429 learners passed the exams, despite spending two of their years in high school during the height of Covid-19 pandemic, which started in 2020.
The pass rate is up from 82.9% in 2023, with nearly half (47.8%) of the candidates earning a Bachelor pass, a qualification required for university admission. This marks a substantial improvement from 40.9%, with the number of Bachelor passes doubling over the past decade to 337,158 in 2024.
Notably, 67% of these passes came from Quintile 1 to 3 schools in poorer communities, with the minister underscoring education’s transformative power.
All provinces recorded pass rates above 84%, with the Free State leading at 91%, while the Northern Cape showed the most improvement, surging by 8.3% from 2023.
KwaZulu-Natal got the second highest pass rate at 89.5%, followed by Gauteng with 88.4 %.
The North West has a pass rate of 87.5%, the Western Cape with 86.6% and Limpopo with 85.01%.
Mpumalanga got 84.99%, the Eastern Cape 84.98% and the Northern Cape at 84.2%.
The matriculants earned an impressive 319,651 distinctions, a significant increase from the previous year.
Key subjects like Mathematics saw an improved performance, with the pass rate rising from 63.5% in 2023 to 69.1% in 2024.
However, Physical Sciences showed a slight decline, highlighting the need for targeted interventions in foundational literacy and numeracy.
KwaZulu-Natal led in Bachelor passes (84,470), followed by Gauteng (66,979) and the Eastern Cape (45,662), while schools in rural and under-resourced areas also celebrated top achievers, emphasising the reach and impact of education initiatives.
Additionally, no-fee schools improved their pass rates from 81% in 2023 to 85.8%, demonstrating the success of initiatives such as the National School Nutrition Programme.
The National Top Learner Awards were won by Owethu Shangase from John Wesley from Kasi Bay Private School and Rayyan Ebrahim Pinelands High School, both from KwaZulu-Natal.
The Class of 2024 began Grade 1 in 2013 and faced the unprecedented disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic during critical educational years.
Speaking in Johannesburg, Minister Gwarube highlighted the achievements of the “Covid generation”, who overcame numerous challenges to achieve the highest matric pass rate in the country’s history.
“This occasion is not only a moment to recognise the accomplishments of our learners, but is also an opportunity for us as a country to reflect on the health of our basic education system at the start of 2025,” she said.
She said the department aimed to achieve universal access to quality ECD programmes by 2030 and strengthen curriculum delivery in the Foundation Phase, with investments in early literacy and numeracy will lay the groundwork for long-term systemic improvements.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised the matriculants for the results they achieved.
“The achievements of the Class of 2024 are a proud contribution to and evidence of our progress as a nation during 30 years of freedom and democracy,” Ramaphosa said.
He said, going forward, the government must ensure opportunities for the learners, including space and inspiration for the youth to set their own course as entrepreneurs, innovators, inventors and other embodiments of creativity and self-reliance.
The president also called for a renewal in addressing the challenges facing both the education sector and the economy, stating his confidence that the matriculants themselves might produce solutions to the country’s problems.
INSIDE EDUCATION
