Experts divided over the 2025 matric performance results

File Image: Matric learners in an exam room.

Education experts are divided on whether the 2025 matric pass rate will be lower or higher than that of 2024. The 2024 matric pass rate was 87.3%, up from 2023’s 82.9%, marking the highest national pass rate ever recorded. Some education experts have forecast an increase in the pass rate of the results, which Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube will announce this evening.

But the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s educationist professor Phumlani Myende has predicted a slight decline.

“You remember during COVID that the focus was more on those who were in Grade 10, 11 and 12, even when schools reopened, the focus was on the higher grades. Now these learners who were in grade 7 came into the high school space already having been affected in grade 7 by COVID and the trimming of curriculum that happened there. For me, this cohort a lot, and if you have conversations with teachers, you’d hear how they are concerned about the learning behaviour of the 2025 grade 12’s,” says Myende.

To the Matric Class of 2025, as we anticipate your 2025 matric results, I want to commend each of you for the effort, discipline, and resilience you have shown throughout this important journey. Completing the National Senior Certificate examinations is a significant milestone,… pic.twitter.com/idqxh2auup

— Siviwe Gwarube (@Siviwe_G) January 11, 2026