The announcement of South Africa’s 2025 matric pass rate will once again open the debate on the examination pass mark requirement, as well as our education system in general. Why a pass mark of 50% will just remain a dream for a long time to come. When I wrote my matric many years ago, I knew exactly what the requirements were to pass matric so that I could be admitted to university, which at that time would have been a first for my family.
First, I had to pass my home language with 50%. I also had to pass a second language (English) with 40% and three other high credit subjects with 40% (for me, these were biology, mathematics and accounting). I could also pass one of my six subjects (history) with just 33⅓%.
Now compare that with a Bachelor’s pass today (required to go to university). Essentially, there is very little difference between the university admission requirements 49 years ago and the requirements today. The main difference is that back then, we could pass one subject with one-third (33⅓%) compared with two subjects, which you can now pass with 30%.
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A matric learner can also pass matric with a Diploma, Higher or National Certificate. It is important to note that for these qualifications, matric learners may pass more than one subject with 30%, BUT you cannot pass ALL subjects with 30%. It is much more nuanced.
Any qualification is subject to other requirements, such as 40% for the home language and 40% for at least three or two other subjects. Also, note that this does not provide admission to university. The debate stems from a resolution proposed by Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane to raise the pass rate to 50%.
He argued that South Africa had to set higher expectations for its matriculants if we wanted to build a competitive generation. Certain political parties like the EFF and MKP even linked the 30% pass rate to a return to “Bantu education” and “Apartheid education”. The Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, emphasised during her reply that there was no overall 30% pass rate for the matric exams.
According to her, only 189 of the 724,000 students who wrote matric last year passed with this absolute minimum. For a broader perspective, it is useful to look at what is happening elsewhere in the world. There are generally three levels.
The first is a pass rate of 50% in countries such as Australia, Canada and many European countries. This is also the borderline between passing and failing at South African universities.The second group maintains a pass rate of 40%: these are countries such as Japan, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom and notably, Zimbabwe. The third group maintains a pass rate of 60%, including countries such as the US, China, the Netherlands and Morocco.
There are also outliers such as the Philippines (72%) and certain US states (65%). South Africa’s failure rate of 29% is therefore among the lowest; lower than India’s 33% and equivalent to Myanmar’s 29%. Time, however, does not stand still.
Everyone with an interest in education should take note that the modern world is moving away from formal exams and tests. A country like Austria has already begun to replace pass rates and symbols with more descriptive forms of achievement, such as “very good”, “satisfactory”, or “very poor”.
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