Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, says the top five school districts for the Class of 2020 are in Gauteng.
Motshekga also says nationally, 76. 7% of the matrics who passed were boys and 75.8 % girls.
However, more girls than boys received Bachelor passes.
She says in 2020 progressed learners from 2019 did not receive the necessary support because of the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the general pass rate down.
“We’ve achieved high quality passes this year, especially the number of Bachelors and diploma’s, the overall pass mark has improved, the passes of distinction is much higher this year, which is a hall mark of the performance of this Class of 2020. In terms of quality we got more quality from this class ever in the system. We are of strong views had it not been for this virus this class could have given us the best performance in the system,” says Minister Motshekga.
National pass rate dropped
Motshekga says although the national pass rate dropped by 5% to below 80%, it is much better than was expected.
The pass rate for the Class of 2020 is 76.2%.
The Free State has the highest pass rate of 85.1%, followed by Gauteng with 83.3% and the Western Cape with 79.9%.
The Northern Cape and North West’s pass rates both fell by more than 10% with the Northern Cape experiencing the lowest pass rate of 66%.
Motshekga says she is proud of the Class of 2020.
“As much as we had a drop. I’m really grateful to all South Africans that really helped us because in essence I was expecting a bloodbath. And I’m very grateful and thankful to our teachers and learners who held their own in very difficult circumstances.”
Minister Angie Motshekga releases 2020 matric results:
Limpopo
Limpopo Education MEC, Polly Boshielo, is on Tuesday morning expected to release the province’s detailed matric results.
Unlike in other years, Limpopo did not feature in the top 10 performing districts.
It, however, produced the learner who ranked third in the category of the top three learners from quintile one schools.
Matriculant, Pearl Khosa from the PP Hlungwani Secondary of Greenfarm Village at Malamulele, and who was part of learners honoured by Minister Motshekga, has expressed her happiness.
“I still can’t believe it’s happening, I mean I didn’t expect it but I expected it. I mean I worked hard and the support that I received from my teachers, the principal, the school, my parents, my whole extended family it helped a lot. This year I am looking to study Actual Science in UCT, well I hope to excel, I’m gonna put in the same amount of time, maybe add a little in my studies and just focus so that I can get my degree and start working.”
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal’s top achievers Thembelihle Tsengane and Dipika Somaroo say studying during lockdown was extremely challenging.
Somaroo is the best performing matric in quintile four schools countrywide, while Tsengane scored the second highest marks among quintile two schools.
KwaZulu-Natal achieved a 77.6% overall pass rate, taking the fourth place nationally.
The province will release further details on Tuesday morning.
Tsengane and Somaroo were among the top achievers honoured by Basic Education Minister – Angie Motshekga, at the national release of matric results on Monday night.
They have encouraged the 2021 matrics not to give up.
Tsengane says, “ First of all I started by praying, I would pray before I kick off my studies and also when I am done studying, I invited the Lord in everything I was doing and secondly hard work, the COVID-19 has made the learning bit tough especially since the beginning of the year I didn’t have the phone but thankfully through the support of the teachers I was able to get the phone.”
Samaroo says, “It was a lot of hard work. I went through past year papers exam questions and I just worked on my own most of the lockdown. So I tried to go through most of my syllabus on my own. My advice would be never give up on yourself. There is a lot of pressure also COVID-19 year but never give up on yourself. Every individual is different, so they should adopt a studying method that is suitable to them.”
Miracle
Professor Mary Metcalfe, Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, says it is an absolute miracle that the matrics did so well.
Metcalfe’s reaction to the pass rate:
Additional reporting by Pimani Baloyi and Nonkululeko Hlophe.
