President hails 87.3% matric pass rate as unprecedented achievement

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube

3 minutes

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the 2024 matric results as an unprecedented achievement for the country.

The national pass rate for the National Senior Certificate examinations has increased from 82.9% in 2023 to 87.3% in 2024.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says this year’s matric results bear testimony to the learners’ personal commitment and advances in education.

“These results reinforce the resolute development of our nation’s most valuable resource, our young people. They also provide proof that we are undoing apartheid’s planned legacy of intergenerational indignity, disadvantage, and poverty for the majority of South Africans.”

President Ramaphosa praises Class of 2024: Vincent Magwenya

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, released the 2024 National Senior Certificates Examination results in Johannesburg on Monday night, praising all the provinces for achieving above 80%.

The top performing province is the Free State at a 91% pass rate followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 89.5%. Gauteng is in third position at 88.4%.

Over 319 000 distinctions

The Class of 2024 entered Grade 8 in 2020, facing the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, they defied the odds, with almost half achieving a bachelor’s pass. They also achieved more than 319 000 distinctions.

Meanwhile, the Director General for Basic Education Mathanzima Mweli says the excellent matric results in 2024 will benefit the class of 2025.

Class of 2024

Teacher unions, School Governing bodies and Education activists have lauded the matric Class of 2024 for demonstrating resilience in the face of numerous challenges including the devastating COVID-19 pandemic and food poisoning incidents.

Teacher Unions express satisfaction with the results achieved by the Class of 2024. SADTU says the matric class of 2024 has shown incredible resilience in the face of numerous challenges.

SADTU General Secretary Mugwena Maluleke says, “We are happy to see the improvement of the results and we congratulate the class of 2024 they’ve done very very well they have defied the odds. We thank the teachers and the parents for putting so much into preparing the classified 2024. We are going to work hard to make sure that materials are available for learners.”

Education Activists Hendrick Makaneta says the achievement of the class of 2024 could not have been attained without the support from their teachers and parents. Makaneta says the lack of resources continues to affect learners from rural areas.

“There is no doubt that learners and teachers have been able to put in a lot of effort particularly if you look at KwaZulu-Natal and I saw the impact that the Saturday classes have on learners so I’m not surprised that they managed to get this number and I think that we should applaud them but at the same time provinces such as Gauteng continue to be at the top because of the resource as compared to rural provinces at Eastern Cape I think there must be a way to ensure that all learners have access to resources.” – Additional reporting by Lerato Makola

Livestream: 2024 Matric Results Announcement