Cape Town – For the 161 inmates who sat for the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate examinations, the class of 2019 achieved an 82.6% pass rate.
This is a 5.2% increase from last year’s 77.3%.
The total number of offenders who passed was 133, with 65 achieving bachelor’s passes.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola released the 2019 inmate matric results at the Tswelopele Correctional Centre in Kimberley yesterday.
“In order to improve the levels of literacy among offenders in our country, and in particular the youth, the Department of Correctional Services places significant emphasis on the provision of formal education and basic schooling for offenders.
"The constitutional imperative for education is not a right curtailed by incarceration, and between the departments of Basic Education, Higher Education and
Correctional Services, literacy, schooling and education constitute some of our apex priorities,” Lamola said.
“We had a relatively stable 2019 academic year, with less disruptions of teaching and learning as a
consequence of co-operation and understanding within our correctional facilities on the importance of education by the offender population, and for that we are all grateful.”
In terms of individual excellence, the offender that achieved the highest average percentage pass was Sandile Stangoni from Usethubeni Youth School, Durban, with an average pass rate of 76.5%.
Stangoni scored four distinctions, in English, Maths Literacy, Life orientation and Tourism.
In second place was Malwande Mandla from Cradock Prison School in the Eastern Cape, with an average pass rate of 76.4%, registering three distinctions, in Xhosa, Life Orientation and Business Studies.
The third best-performing offender was Ganto Thamie, also from Cradock, with an average pass rate of 73.60%, scoring two distinctions in Xhosa and History.
The Department of Correctional Services has established 16 full-time correctional centre schools, including two at their public/private partnership centres, which are Mangaung and Kutama Sinthumule.
Across all schools which are run in co-operation with the Department of Basic Education, offenders are given
a second chance to improve their
educational levels.
“Once again, we have delivered incident-free 2019 matric examinations with no systemic irregularities that undermined the integrity of the exam processes,” Lamola said.
Correctional Services also makes provision for those who want to pursue tertiary education opportunities. In addition, they provide skills development through the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges, which Lamola said seemed to be the preferred option for the majority of offenders.