Passes up – but major worries over maths

72.5% of pupils successful, with Free State surprise No 1 province

THE Free State has pulled off a surprise coup, achieving the highest matric pass rate nationally as the Class of 2016 celebrated an improvement on the previous year. Nationally, 72.5% of matrics passed – up almost two percentage points on 2015, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said last night.

Free State achieved an 88.2% pass rate – up from 81.6% in 2015.

The Western Cape has traditionally held the top spot, followed by Gauteng which this year came in second and third respectively.

But the celebrations were tempered by warnings that the quality of the matric pass still left much to be desired.

In the Western Cape, 85.9% of those who wrote passed compared to 84.7% in 2015.

Gauteng claimed third place with 85.1%, improving from 84.2% in 2015. Among the remaining provinces: ý North West achieved 82.5%, up from 81.5%;

The Northern Cape achieved 78.7%, up from 69.4%;

Mpumalanga achieved 77.1%, down from 78.6%;

KwaZulu-Natal achieved 66.4%, up from 60.7%;

Limpopo achieved 62.5%, down from 65.9%, and;

The Eastern Cape achieved 59.3%, up from 56.8% in 2015.

The number of pupils who passed science and maths also increased, but there was concern the number was still low.

The total of students in poorer schools achieving university passes was up.

About 26% of all matriculants passed with the basic requirement to enter university – a slight rise from the previous year’s 25%. The minimum requirements to obtain the National Senior Certificate are to achieve 40% in three subjects, one of which should be a home language, and 30% in three other subjects.

Overall maths passes grew but distinctions in the subject remained low, although increasing to 8 070 compared to 7 791 in 2015.

Reacting last night, National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) president Nkosipendule Ntantala said the outcome remained a grave concern as about 74% of pupils had still not been able to meet higher cognitive demands,

National Teachers’ Union (Natu) deputy president Allan Thompson said while it was notable that the number of bachelor passes had increased, there was still room for improvement.

Thompson particularly raised concerns that there were still schools that achieved 29% pass rates and those that obtained 0%.

He called for the department to pay special attention to these.

SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said the union was not happy with the overall increase as it was insignificant, although that was not the major worry.

The big concern was the rate of bachelor passes, Maluleke said.

Wits University’s Professor Ruksana Osman said the improved pass rate had been expected, but was modest.

“An interesting surprise was the Free State,” he said.

“We need to learn from them about what they have done.”

Osman said the poor performance in subjects like maths, science and accounting was worrying.

Motshekga said the 22 top-performing pupils were officially the ambassadors for the public schooling system as they were the “bright sparks” in that system.