Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube announced on Monday night that the class of 2025 had achieved an 88% pass rate in the NSC examinations — the highest in South Africa’s history. KZN was the leading province with a 90.6% pass rate. Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube announced last night that the matric Class of 2025 had achieved an 88% overall pass rate, an improvement from the 2024 results and the highest pass rate in history.
She also said that more than 920,000 candidates sat for the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations nationwide and 345 000 achieved Bachelor’s passes. KwaZulu-Natal, for the first time, moved to the number one position as the top performer in the country when it comes to matric results. The Free State, which has dominated the number one position for many years, is now second, and Gauteng is in third place.
The results released yesterday showed that KZN registered a 1.1 percentage point increase in the pass rate, bringing it to 90.6%. Education experts have stated that the performance by KZN indicates that stakeholders in the province know what to do and are taking their responsibilities seriously. Education expert Professor Labby Ramrathan said he believes that when it comes to the pass rate, the country is performing at its best, and no such level has been reached before.
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Among the reasons he expected the pass rate to be lower is that while many students go to school to study, there are equally many others who attend school for reasons other than education, such as socialising. Additionally, there is a cohort of students who are still feeling the impact of Covid-19, with studies showing that many children are not reading for comprehension.
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