SABC News reports that the country’s prisoners who wrote the 2015 matric exams achieved a higher pass rate than the national average.<\/p>\n
The 2015 matric exam national pass rate dropped to 70.7%, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
This was down from\u00a075.8% achieved in 2014, she said at the release of the results in Midrand, Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
If so-called \u201cprogressed learners\u201d had not been added to the total, the pass rate would have been 74%.<\/p>\n
These were pupils who failed Grade 11 twice and were promoted to Grade 12 without meeting the passing criteria.<\/p>\n
Some 200 inmates who wrote the 2015 matric exams showed an improved pass rate of 73%.<\/p>\n
Acting Chief Deputy Commissioner, Department of Correctional Service Dr Joey Coetzee\u00a0 told Morning Live, that access to education forms the basis for all the rehabilitation programmes offered to the inmates.<\/p>\n
“Illiteracy has a close link to criminal behavior. That is why we as the department offer a system that allows inmates a chance not to leave the prison system after 10 or 15 years still illiterate.”<\/p>\n
“These results will hopefully give them a chance of building a better future for themselves,” Coetzee\u00a0 said.<\/p>\n
Matric pass rate drops to 70.7%<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Real matric pass rate in South Africa is 43.7%<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n