South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday lauded the country’s final year students of 2019 for achieving an 81.3 percent pass rate in their examinations – the highest ever since the advent of democracy in 1994.
“These results are a triumph and a clear signal that government’s substantial investment in education, in pupil and teacher support – and in educational infrastructure – is yielding results,” Ramaphosa said.
He added: “South Africans can be proud that education, like most aspects of our nation’s development, is on an upward trajectory which should inspire all of us to work together to accelerate and maintain excellence.”
The results also revealed that there had been an increase in the number of female learners achieving bachelor’s passes, he noted.
“There has also been an increase in the number of female learners achieving bachelor’s passes, with the Eastern Cape Province recording the highest improvement in the pass rate, and not one of the country’s 75 districts performing below 60 percent. These are stellar achievements,” Ramaphosa said.
The president noted that the increase in the high school pass rate in various schools was indicative that the divide between so-called ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ schools was steadily narrowing.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga released the results of the 2019 National Senior Certificate (NSC) final exams Tuesday night, and the figures show that this is the first time the high school pass rate had breached the 80 percent threshold.
According to the minister, some 787, 717 candidates sat for the examinations nationwide. The pass rate represented a 3.1 percent improvement from 2018’s national pass rate of 78.2 percent, she said.
NM/jn/APA