POLL | Are you impressed with the matric pass rate?

The release of the matric results this week has sparked a debate around the government’s competence and the futures of many who sat for the exams.

On Thursday basic education minister Angie Motshekga announced the pass rate for the matric class of 2022 was 80.1%, up from 76.4% the year before.

The number of Bachelor passes increased by 8.9%.

Motshekga said 920,634 pupils registered for the National Senior Certificate examinations — 752,003 full-time candidates and 168,631 part-timers. She said 834,565 candidates, both full-time and part-time, sat for the 2022 exams.

The pass rate has increased since 2020 and many applauded the department for a job well done. Others questioned the results and suggested they were inflated. 

Many commented that life would soon teach matriculants a harsher lesson than anything they learnt at school.

The DA disputed the pass rate, claiming the true rate was far lower.

“The real 2022 matric pass rate is only 54.6%, an increase from 2021’s 50.4%. This is very concerning,” it said.

The party said it calculated the real matric pass rate by factoring in the number of pupils who dropped out and never made it to matric.

“Some pupils opt out of schooling at the end of grade 9 to pursue their education through technical and vocational education and training (TVET) facilities, but a large number stop their education entirely. To bring the TVET learners into account the DA calculates the real matric pass rate from the grade 10 cohort who ought to complete matric.”

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