Tshwane – As matric learners across South Africa anxiously await the January 4, release of their 2016 matric results, the Department of Basic Education on Friday met the South African council for quality assurance in general, further education and training uMalusi for a standardisation meeting on the results.
The meeting held in Pretoria was also attended by members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on basic education and representatives of education in neighbouring countries including Botswana and Zambia.
Spokesperson for the national department of basic education, Elijah Mhlanga said throughout 2016, additional effort was diverted towards provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo which recorded pass rate declines in the 2015 grade 12 results.
"For the first time in a long time the [Basic Education] Minister Angie Motshekga, Deputy Minister [Enver Surty] and director-general Mathanzima Mweli visited provinces to engage them on the 2015 results, and to also support them with appropriate interventions. We are hoping for an improvement this time around. We don't have a target as such but any improvement will be welcome," he said.
In October, around 815,000 learners sat for the 2016 National Senior Certificate examinations at 7 000 examination centres across the nine provinces. Umalusi spokesperson Lucky Ditaunyane told African News Agency that the outcome of today's meeting will be revealed at a media briefing scheduled for Thursday in Pretoria.
Results presented by Motshekga in January this year showed that South Africa’s 2015 matric pass rate stood at 70.7 percent, a drop of five percent compared to the 75.8 percent achieved in 2014.
The Western Cape was the top performing province and achieved an 84.7 percent pass rate, followed by Gauteng in second place at 84.2 percent.
The Free State came third with 81.6 percent. The worst performer was the Eastern Cape which achieved a 58.6 percent pass rate, a drop of more than six percent from 65.4 percent in 2014.