Image Source: The South African
South Africa – President Cyril Ramaphosa and Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube have celebrated the historic achievements of the Matric Class of 2024 while emphasizing the importance of improving the quality of education in South Africa.
This year, 615,429 learners passed the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, achieving the highest pass rate in the country’s history at 87.3%, up from 82.9% in 2023. Nearly half of these learners secured Bachelor passes, and almost 320,000 distinctions were achieved.
President Ramaphosa described these achievements as a testament to the resilience and determination of South Africa’s youth and the collective efforts of everyone involved in education.
“These results reinforce our resolute development of our nation’s most valuable resource, our young people. They also provide proof that we are undoing apartheid’s planned legacy of intergenerational indignity, disadvantage and poverty for the majority of South Africans.
The President credited learners, teachers, parents, and education partners for their contributions to this success. He called for sustained efforts to create opportunities for young people, emphasizing the need to empower them as entrepreneurs, innovators, and creators.
“As Government and our partners in civil society, we must all work together to ensure that learners such as the Class of 2024 are able to take up as many opportunities as we can create for them to succeed.”
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Addressing the Challenges in the Education System
While celebrating the results, Minister Gwarube acknowledged ongoing challenges in the education system. She expressed concern about many learners progressing through the system without mastering critical skills such as literacy and numeracy, which are essential for success in mathematics and physical sciences.
“These deficits accumulate over time, limiting learners’ abilities to succeed in higher grades and in these gateway subjects and diminishing their prospects of accessing further education and employment opportunities.”
“This trend manifests itself in the decrease in enrolments in subjects such as Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Accounting and Economics, which are all subjects that are critical for a nation’s ability to advance in science, innovation and economic development.”
To address these issues, the department is prioritising Early Childhood Development (ECD) and foundational learning. Universal access to quality ECD programmes by 2030, alongside improving teacher training and resourcing underserved schools, remains a top priority.
“I believe that this strategic reorientation towards ECD and the Foundation Phase will improve the quality of the learning outcomes we are able to achieve throughout the system – from Grades R to 3 in the Foundation Phase, Grades 4 to 6 in the Intermediate Phase, Grades 7 to 9 in the Senior Phase and ultimately Grades 10 to 12 in the Further Education and Training Phase.”
The Minister emphasised the importance of protecting teaching time to ensure adequate curriculum coverage and called for more significant investment in teacher development, particularly in the Foundation Phase. She reaffirmed the department’s commitment to the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme to attract more students to teach critical foundational skills.
“If we are to improve the quality of education outcomes, we need to protect teaching and learning time, ensuring that our teachers are at school and teaching for the entire day, for 230 days per year, to ensure adequate coverage of the curriculum.”
As part of broader reforms, the department will urgently review the outdated Post Provisioning Norms to allocate educator posts better and support universal access to quality Grade R education. Updates to the National Catalogue of Learning and Teaching Support Materials will also ensure schools can access resources aligned with national curriculum standards.
