The class of 2025 has achieved an overall pass rate of 88% for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, with KwaZulu-Natal being the top province.
This is a slight improvement from the 2024 cohort, which achieved 87.3%, and 82.9% in 2023.
Announcing the results in Johannesburg on Monday, basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube said: “This was the largest class in history to sit for the final results. We are reaching more pupils in grade 12. The story [of this cohort] begins in 2014, a story of resilience, including having gone through Covid-19.”
She said only 34% of candidates wrote mathematics as most of them only take it up in grade 10 but drop it as a subject along the way.
“This is concerning as this is a gateway subject.”
She said the system is growing, but not was not strong enough “in subjects that open doors”.
“While the national percentage of what we will call bachelor passes decreased slightly from around 48% to 46%, more candidates than ever before achieved bachelor passes, increasing by 8,700 to over 345,000 learners.”
Listing the performances of the provinces, she said: “In ninth place is the Eastern Cape that has achieved a pass rate of 84.17%, in eighth place is Limpopo with a pass rate of 86.15% and in seventh place is Mpumalanga with 86.55%.
“In sixth place is the Northern Cape having achieved a pass rate of 87.79%, marking the biggest improvement of all the provinces. In fifth place is the Western Cape with a pass rate of 88.2%. In fourth place is the North West having achieved 88.49%. In third place is Gauteng with a pass rate of 89.06%, in second place the Free State having achieved a pass rate of 89.33%. And the best performing province is KwaZulu-Natal with a pass rate of 90.6%,” Gwarube said.
She said the NSC remains one of the most complicated systems after elections, carrying . 13-million pupils, 465k educators across provinces and 25k schools.
The minister took the moment to warn against populism.
“We have to make sure results are earned. The sloganism discourages differently talented learners. 30% is not the matric pass mark. I call upon elected leaders to refrain from populism, as it discourages our learners.
“Matric is not an event but a journey that spans 12 years,” Gwarube said.
She said this cohort has more pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and no-fee schools achieving bachelor passes with percentages ranging from 80% to 100%.
Mmusi Maimane, leader of BOSA, who was in the audience, is a known critics of the pass mark.
He has maintained that there should be an overall increase to 50%. In his view, this would communicate quality education.
Gwarube said the education system in the country bears the imprint of deep inequality, yet it remains the most powerful tool for social cohesion and change.
All districts achieved a pass rate of 80% or above.
The Gauteng provincial government has encouraged matriculants to access their 2025 examination results through the Gauteng Matric Results Online System.
TimesLIVE
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