The Eastern Cape had the highest improvement of matric results in the country after obtaining a 76.5% pass rate in the 2019 matric examinations, up from the 70.6 % last year. The national pass rate increased to 81.3% from 78.2% in 2018.
This was announced by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Tuesday afternoon.
A total of 616,754 full time pupils and 170,963 part time pupils wrote the final year exams, with all 75 national districts achieving more than a 60% pass rate.
Motshekga said the Nelson Mandela Metro was the leading district in the Eastern Cape.
The results were:
- Free State 88,4%
- Gauteng 87,2%
- North West, 86,8%
- Western Cape, 82,3%
- KZN 81,3%
- Mpumalanga 80,3%
- Eastern Cape and Northern Cape 76,5%
- Limpopo 73,2%.
Motshekga said: “None of the 75 districts performed below 60% for the first time. Ten of our districts performed over 80%.”
She said the education department had made great strides towards achieving their #2030NationalDevelopmentPlan goals.
“We are announcing the results with only 10 years remaining before 2030. The national development plan says SA should have access to quality education to international assessment standards. Our system has been on a steady rise.”
The Independent Examinations Board (IEB) matric class of 2019 achieved a pass rate of 98.82% — slightly down from the 98.92% registered in 2018.