The Western Cape education department has downplayed its slip to fifth place in the national matric rankings, insisting the province’s performance remains strong despite criticism that the headline pass rate masks deep structural problems in public schools.
The Western Cape recorded an 88.2% matric pass rate, an improvement on the previous two years, but its drop in the national rankings marks a notable shift for a province that has long been regarded as a consistent top performer.
The province’s lower ranking has reignited concerns about systemic pressures, overcrowded classrooms, and unequal support for teachers and pupils.
Provincial education department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the ranking alone does not reflect the full picture.
“We have achieved the highest pass rate, the highest bachelor pass rate, as well as the highest number of candidates passing nationally,” Hammond said.
However, teachers on the ground tell a different story.
A high school teacher from Khayelitsha said under-resourced township schools continue to be neglected.
“There is a huge gap between well-resourced schools and those in under-resourced areas. Access to learning resources, especially technology, is still a major challenge in most township schools,” he said.
Overcrowding remained a serious concern.
“In township schools, we deal with very large classes, sometimes far beyond what is manageable. There is also the issue of teacher shortages, which results in educators teaching subjects they are not properly trained for,” the teacher said.
“The department should prioritise appointing teachers according to their specialisations and urgently improve access to technology.”
To suggest that the province has dropped in performance based solely on ranking is misleading and oversimplified
— Bronagh Hammond, Provincial education department spokesperson
EFF provincial chair Unathi Ntame said the results “conceal the deep and structural crisis facing public education in the Western Cape”.
“The headline pass rate fails to account for the alarming dropout rates between grades 10 and 12, which distort the true condition of the education system. Thousands of learners are pushed out long before they reach matric, making the celebration of pass rates a hollow exercise that masks institutional failure,” Ntame said.
He linked what he described as stagnating performance to “severe instability” caused by political and administrative decisions within the education department.
“The slashing of approximately 24,000 teaching posts for the 2025 academic year, justified by a claimed R3.8bn budget shortfall, was a policy choice, not an unavoidable crisis. These cuts have led directly to overcrowded classrooms, forced class combinations and learner-to-teacher ratios as high as 54:1, conditions fundamentally incompatible with quality education.”
Ntame accused the province of regressive budgeting.
“The Western Cape allocates only 44.2% of its provincial equitable share to education, well below the national average of 47.3%. In real terms, the province spends nearly R2bn less on education than other provinces relative to their total budgets. This reflects a governance model that deprioritises working-class and poor children,” he said.
According to Ntame, the province’s fifth-place finish is “a clear indictment” of a government that prioritises austerity over investment in young people.
“What is required is not cosmetic reform but a complete overhaul of education governance, budgeting priorities and policy direction in the province,” he said.
Hammond rejected claims that the Western Cape’s performance should be judged purely on ranking.
“To suggest that the province has dropped in performance based solely on ranking is misleading and oversimplified,” she said.
She stressed that pass rates alone do not capture the quality of education or system-wide success.
She said a more accurate assessment should consider factors such as the proportion of learners achieving bachelor’s passes; the number of distinctions; and learner retention through to grade 12.
“The Western Cape remains committed to improving these indicators, which speak to the true quality of education, not just the percentage pass rate. Learner retention and quality matter,” she said.
Hammond added that the province has the highest learner retention rate in the country, a finding confirmed in the basic education department’s technical report.
“This means more learners in the Western Cape are staying in school and completing grade 12, which is a true indicator of system strength and equity,” she said.
Riedwaan Ahmed, provincial CEO of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa), said the drop in ranking was alarming. This is despite the province having produced the highest overall pass rate since the inception of the National Senior Certificate, the top mathematics pass rate in South Africa, and the highest learner retention rate nationally.
“Rankings alone don’t provide a complete picture of educational quality, but the Western Cape’s historical performance and reputation for stability and being the ‘best-run’ province make this shift significant and deserving of serious reflection,” Ahmed said.
He added that Naptosa acknowledges provincial comparisons are inherently unequal due to differences in learner retention, socioeconomic conditions, participation rates and resource allocation.
He said many schools in the Western Cape operate under severe socioeconomic strain, including poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, gang violence, substance abuse and unstable home environments, all of which negatively affect learner attendance, emotional wellbeing and academic performance.
Educators, he said, face increasing administrative demands, curriculum pressure and large class sizes, with teacher fatigue and burnout remaining serious concerns.
“The CAPS curriculum remains content-heavy and assessment-driven, leaving insufficient time for remediation, consolidation and differentiated teaching, especially for academically vulnerable learners,” he said, stressing that the decline in ranking should not be interpreted as a failure by teachers, who continued to work with dedication under challenging conditions.
He said any meaningful response should focus on systemic support, including strengthening foundation phase education, with the inclusion of grade R into the mainstream system through the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act being a step in the right direction.
Ahmed called for greater stability through the prompt conversion of temporary teachers, the filling of promotion posts and the permanent appointment of principals.
He highlighted the impact of overcrowded classrooms, driven in part by the Western Cape’s constant influx of pupils from other provinces, which undermined discipline, teacher wellbeing and effective intervention for pupils with barriers to learning.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.