Basic education minister Angie Motshekga last week Thursday officially released the 2023 matric pass rate in Randburg. The overall pass rate is 82.9%, an increase of 2.8 percentage points from 80.1% attained in 2022.
Umalusi approved NSC results
Before the formal presentation, minister Motshekga hosted the top achievers and their parents at a congratulatory breakfast at the MTN Innovation Centre in Johannesburg. Earlier in the week, Umalusi, the country’s quality assurance council, approved the results saying “there were no irregularities that could have impaired both the credibility and integrity of the outcomes of the examination.”
“Having studied all the evidence presented, Exco of Council concluded that the examinations were administered largely in accordance with the regulations pertaining to the conduct, administration and management of the National Senior Certificate [NSC] examinations. Exco of Council therefore approves the release of the DBE November 2023 [NSC] examination results,” said Professor Yunus Ballim, the council’s chairperson.
He said the irregularities that were identified during the writing and marking stages of the examinations “were not systemic and therefore did not compromise the overall credibility and integrity” of the NSC exams administered by the DoBE.
DG’s technical report
As is tradition, Motshekga’s announcement was preceded by a technical briefing by the department’s director-general, Mweli Matanzima. The report revealed that the number of bachelor passes as 40.9% in 2023 – up from 38.4% in 2022. In total, 715, 719 full-time candidates sat for the NSC exams and of these 572, 983 passed. Similarly, 182, 086 candidates enrolled part-time and a total of 897, 775 candidates wrote the examination.
Retaining First Spot
The Free State retained its first spot as the top-performing province, attaining 89.3% compared to 88.5% in 2022. But it was the KwaZulu-Natal province that took many by surprise as it overtook Gauteng by securing the coveted second spot, registering 86.36%, up from 83.0% last year. Gauteng took third place with 85.38% – up from 84.4% in 2022. In terms of the number of distinctions, KZN overtook the Western Cape, moving from 6% to 8.3%. The Western Cape came second and Gauteng got third position. To top it all, KZN featured among three of the nine provinces whose districts produced 80% and above. It was followed by Gauteng and the Free State.
Pass rate per province
- Free State – 89%
- KwaZulu-Natal – 86.4%
- Gauteng – 85.4%
- North West – 81.6%
- Western Cape – 81.5%
- Eastern Cape – 81.4%
- Limpopo – 79.5%
- Mpumalanga – 77%
- Northern Cape – 75.8%
Defying the odds
Minister Motshekga hailed the matric class of 2023, saying they triumphed despite incredible odds stacked against them. “This cohort was exposed to Covid-19, while they were in grades 9 and 10 in 2020 and 2021, thus placing them at the eye of the Covid-19 storm. Their ability to cope during those extremely difficult academic and psycho-emotional draining years is the manifestation of their fortitude and burning desire to improve their future prospects,´ Motshekga said.
According to the minister, the NSC pass rate has been consistently improving, from 60% in 2009 to above 80% in recent years. “The high quality passes we have achieved this year, especially the record number of bachelor and diploma passes are an indisputable testimony that ours is indeed a system on the rise,” said Motshekga who has been at the helm of the DoBE for 15 years.
Maimane blasts minister Motshekga
However, experts and critics do not share Motshekga’s optimism and her assertion that “the system is on the rise”. One of them is Mmusi Maimane, the leader of Build One South Africa (BOSA). He said under Motshekga the quality of education has declined because she lowered the pass rate to 30% including in gateway subjects such as mathematics and science. Speaking to eNCA, he said only 41% of the class of 2023 obtained bachelor’s passes, adding this reflects badly on the country’s education system. He said the current education system is neither market-relevant nor globally competitive and it does not equip and prepare children for the world of work.
The Actual Pass Rate
Two advocacy groups, Equal Education (EE) and Zero Dropout Campaign (ZDC) have also expressed reservations about the pass rate saying the actual 2023 matric pass rate is 51.3%, by far the lowest figure than that of the DoBE, whereas other calculations shows 55.3%. The ZDC said the 2023 matric pass rate does not reflect how many learners dropped out of school before matric or between enrolling at the start of the year and sitting the exams in November.
In its analysis of the pass rate, EE focused on the numbers of learners from the last matric cohort whopassed as a proportion of Grade 2 enrolments. They said they focused on Grade 2 instead of Grade 1 because “there are generally a disproportionately high number of learners held back after their first year of school.” Using these calculations, which used the Grade 2 enrolment figure as basis, the EE concluded that the pass rate then showed as 51.3% – significantly lower than the 54% calculated using this method in 2022.
Lacking rudimentary academic skills
Employers have been consistently complaining about the quality of learners who passed their Grade 12 saying they lacked basic literacy and numeracy skills. As the world embraces the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) skills such as AI, robotics and 3D printing, experts say South Africa’s education system should also ensure it provides globally relevant skills that respond to emerging economies and technologies. To its credit, the DoBE has redesigned the curriculum to gradually introduce subjects such as robotics and coding from Grade R to 7 classes. However, according to experts, this will take some time to implement as the DoBE has to firstly upskill teachers to effectively teach the subjects.
Note: Also read our article by Alex Rose-Innes, providing a critical analysis of the situation at the hand of experts.
