South Africans have been holding their breath and the matric results have finally been released. The Western Cape province can be especially proud of its learners for achieving the most distinctions in the country.
Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced the results yesterday, January 7 in Johannesburg, saying that out of the 787 717 candidates who wrote the National Senior Certificate (NSC), 81.3% passed.
Capetonians can continue to smile as the top three students hail from the Mother City. Madelein Dippenaar from Paarl Gimnasium is the top achiever in South Africa, with Gary Allen from Rondebosch High School second and Anuoluwa Makinde from Milnerton High School third.
“I am very pleased with the performance of the Western Cape, especially given the difficulties that we are facing as a result of inadequate funding and safety concerns. I would like to congratulate all our learners, teachers and administrative staff, who have put in an immense effort,” the Minister said.
Since the 2019 matric results have been released, debates have been ongoing about whether the 81.3% pass rate is, in fact, something to boast about. The DA has come forward saying that the real pass rate is in fact 38.9%.
“In 2017, a total of 1 052 080 learners were enrolled in grade 10, yet only 409 906 learners eventually passed matric last year. This means only 38.9% of grade 10 learners actually wrote and passed matric,” they said in a statement. “This is for the most part due to an extraordinarily high drop-out rate, which means that hundreds of thousands of learners are denied the chance to write matric, let alone pass it. This is an indication of a dismally failing system, not a functional and successful one.”
Be that as it may, we congratulate each learner who passed for working hard and wish them all the best for their future!
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