South Africa\u2019s matric (grade 12) class of 2023, which wrote final school-leaving exams late last year, has been hailed by the country\u2019s minister of basic education for achieving \u201cextraordinary\u201d results. Of the 691,160 candidates who wrote the National Senior Certificate exams, 82.9% \u2013 that\u2019s 572,983 \u2013 passed, up from 80.1% of the class of 2022. And more candidates than ever before obtained marks that allow them to study for a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of the country\u2019s nine provinces managed to improve on their 2022 pass rates. This is despite the\u00a0after-effects of the COVID pandemic\u00a0in 2020 and 2021 when this class was in grade 9 and grade 10, respectively. The results also reflect a steady uptick in the overall national pass rate,\u00a0which has risen\u00a0from 60% in 2009 and stabilised over the past two years at above 80%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As is clear from this summary, the release of the results focused a great deal on the numbers. As a former teacher, school principal, education circuit manager, academic expert in curriculum studies and current vice-dean of teaching and learning at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, I would caution against this approach. South Africans should not confuse quantity with quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fanfare and hype around the results risks obscuring the big picture, which is that the actual pass rate \u2013 when dropouts are taken into account \u2013 is far lower and has been for many years. This points to huge problems within the education system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Real\u2019 numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, as has become the case annually, there\u2019s been furious debate between politicians and education experts about the quality of the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some experts openly say that government is striving for numbers instead of focusing on quality. For example, a matric class in a township (underdeveloped, generally urban areas largely inhabited by Black South Africans) will boast a pass rate of 80%. But only a few of those matriculants qualify to study at a university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The essence of the debate revolves around what some call the \u201creal\u201d pass rate, measured by the number of matriculants who passed as a fraction of the number who started school together 12 years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2012, 1,208,973 learners entered the first year of school, grade 1. Of these, only 928,050 were in grade 11, and only 740,566 enrolled for grade 12 (matric) in 2023. Thus, 468,407 pupils (almost 40%)\u00a0disappeared into the system. Given this attrition, some analysts and politicians argue that the actual pass rate is only\u00a0just over 55%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n