DA disputes matric pass rate, EFF calls for department to account for pupils ‘lost in the system’

The DA has refuted the 2022 matric results as inaccurate, claiming the “real” matric pass rate is only 54.6%.

The National Senior Certificate results were announced by basic education minister Angie Motshekga on Thursday. She hailed an overall pass rate of 80.1%, an increase from 76.4% the previous year.

DA MP Baxolile Nodada said hiding behind misleading pass rates would only cause more harm.

“We calculate the real matric pass rate by bringing into account the number of pupils who dropped out and never made it to matric,” Nodada said.

“Some pupils opt out of schooling at the end of grade 9 to pursue their education through technical and vocational education and training facilities, but a large number stop their education entirely. We account for the grade 10 cohort who ought to complete matric.”

He said the 45.4% fail rate and high dropout rate were particularly concerning because many of those pupils contribute to the country’s youth unemployment rate.

“A little over 3.5-million youth are not in education, employment or any form of skills training. Unless the basic education department addresses the twin issues of the high dropout rate and the ineffective curriculum offering that fails to fully develop knowledge and skills to access economic opportunities, most matriculants’ futures will be very limited,” Nodada said.

The DA alleged the department of basic education has not established a system of tracking pupils who leave the public schooling system, resulting in a high likelihood of pupils joining the unemployment lines once they leave school, whether by dropping out or after graduation.

The EFF shared similar sentiments, saying there are “thousands of young people who have fallen through the cracks due to dire learning conditions and have resorted to a life of alcohol, drug abuse and crime”.

“In 2011, when this group of pupils began their grade 1 studies, more than 1.2-million children registered for grade 1. However, the number of pupils who registered for their 2022 matric examinations on a full-time basis was 752,003, meaning more than 500,000 young people  have been lost in the system,” the EFF said.

Noting the “long overdue release” of matric results, the EFF said the class of 2022’s achievement was commendable, considering  it “came in the face of poor service delivery, perennial infrastructure problems and crippling electricity blackouts”.

“This feat by these young people, particularly those who have not been afforded the luxuries that come with the separate development entrenched by the Independent Examination Board (IEB), is both inspiring and saddening, as no young person should pursue education through difficult and dehumanising conditions.”

The red berets slammed the education department for being “boastful about the resilience, courage and perseverance of a youth that has largely been deprived of an environment conducive to teaching and learning”. 

“Many young people undertake a 12-year journey of pure hardship when they enter the schooling system in which they cross rivers, walk long distances, endure physical and sexual harassment by corrupt teachers, use pit toilets and are cramped in overcrowded classes,” the EFF said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa joined the celebrations and offered his congratulations to the matric class of 2022 for “outstanding individual and collective performances” despite challenges brought about by two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, load-shedding and a period of unrest.

“We must all work together to build a society where pupils are not measured only by their resilience in testing times but where they can fulfil their potential in conducive conditions,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Ramaphosa said the 2022 matriculant cohort constitutes a green light for the country’s education system which vindicates the “extensive and unwavering investment” made by government in education during nearly 30 years of freedom.

“Through their commendable performance, [they] have made our future more hopeful, a future in which this generation of young South Africans will take our country to new heights.”

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