Matrics earn top marks for resilience
Despite two long years of Covid-related school closures and rotational, online and hybrid classes, the Class of 2021 – and its teachers – dug deep and produced a remarkable set of results in the 2021 National Senior Certificate exams, with the pass rate s
The Class of 2021 is the second cohort of matrics that has experienced an unprecedented period of upended education as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The Class of 2021 was the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic because they had to endure two consecutive years of harsh exposure to the unrelenting Covid-19 pandemic,” said Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga when she announced the 2021 exam results on 20 January in Pretoria.
Notwithstanding the disruptions caused by Covid-19, and the challenges and inequalities that exist in the public education system, Free State held on to its spot as the top-performing province in the country with a pass rate of 85.7%, which is a 0.6 percentage point increase from the previous year.
Gauteng was second with a pass rate of 82.8%, experiencing a 0.5 percentage point drop from 2020. In third place: the Western Cape with a pass rate of 81.2%, an improvement of 1.3 percentage points, from 79.9% in 2020.
Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said she was “absolutely delighted with the results”.
“Considering that this was achieved after two years of a global pandemic makes it even more remarkable. The class of 2021 has had a tough two years. Their Grade 11 year in 2020 was marred by school closures, with their grade going back to class later than many others. However, their matric year has been very stable, with more time in class than in other matric years,” Schäfer said in a statement on 20 January.
The lowest pass rates were recorded in Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Limpopo, with 73%, 71.4% and 66.7%, respectively.
Although Limpopo recorded the lowest pass rate in South Africa, declining from 68.2% in 2020 to 66.7% in 2021, the province saw an increase in bachelor passes from 2020, according to Limpopo MEC for Education Polly Boshielo during the announcement of the provincial results on 21 January.
“While we remain concerned about the decline in the 2021 provincial pass rate, our candidates have given a good account of themselves in terms of bachelor and diploma passes as compared to the class of 2020.
“We must point out that, out of the 105,101 candidates who sat for the 2021 NSC examinations, 28,075 achieved bachelor passes, compared to the 22,907 bachelor passes achieved by the class of 2020 – which is an increase of 22.6%,” said Boshielo.
A total of 897,163 candidates sat for the 2021 NSC examinations, comprising 733,198 full-time candidates and 163,965 part-time candidates, said Motshekga. This is an increase of 23.6% from 2020.
A total of 256,031 matric learners achieved bachelor passes, which is an improvement of 21.4% from 2020. This represents 36.4% of the total number of candidates who wrote the 2021 NSC exams.
Motshekga said: “The 2021 bachelor passes in number is the highest attained in the entire history of the NSC examinations, but the second highest to that attained in 2019, when expressed as a percentage.”
The class of 2021 managed to achieve 211,725 distinctions – an increase of 19.3% from 2020, said Motshekga.
The provinces with the most distinctions are:
KwaZulu-Natal with 61,887 distinctions;
Gauteng with 47,399 distinctions; Western Cape with 29,542 distinctions; Eastern Cape with 24,174 distinctions; and
Limpopo with 17,751 distinctions.
“It is remarkable to note that the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, the three most rural provinces in the country, produced a combined total of 121,312 bachelor passes, which is equivalent to 47.4% and an improvement of 26.6% from 2020,” Motshekga said.
These three provinces together also managed to achieve 103,812 distinctions, which is equivalent to 49%, and an improvement of 43.3% from 2020, she said.
There were 77,250 more girls than boys, who enrolled for the 2021 NSC examinations, which is an improvement of 7.4% from 2020, said Motshekga. Additionally, there were 74,247 more girls who wrote the exams, which is an increase of 11.4% from 2020.
Overall, there were 297,152 girls, and 240,535 boys, who passed the 2021 NSC exams. “When translated into percentages, this represents 76.4% girls and 76.4% boys who passed the 2021 NSC exams – parity of the highest order,” she said.
Motshekga said non-fee-paying schools produced 62% of the bachelor passes, up 4 percentage points from 58% for 2020.
“There is no doubt that the system has begun to reach the desired stability, which is healthy for a large system; as large and important as ours. The unquestionable resilience our school community has shown against such a devastating pandemic cannot go by unnoticed,” said Motshekga.
The matric pass rate is often criticised as being an untrue representation of the actual pass rate by analysts who look at the number of learners who enter the basic education system in Grade 1, versus those who eventually pass matric.
“These analysts generally attribute this ‘inaccurate reflection’ to the failure of our educational system,” said Professor Nadine Petersen, executive dean of the University of Johannesburg’s faculty of education.
“There may be some truth in that, but what I think we are not taking cognisance of sufficiently in those kinds of arguments are that there are other factors that also play a role on the road from Grade 1 to matric.
“This road is often filled with many pitfalls that are not just pertaining to the education system,” she said.
Factors such as poor socioeconomic circumstances, lack of nutrition, lack of resources and reading material, lack of social interaction and organised play in early development years, poor family support, violence against children and Covid-19 disruptions should all be taken into account by analysts when arguing this point, said Petersen.
After Covid-19 continued to disrupt the education sector in 2021, Petersen was concerned about the challenges faced by matrics, and had “anticipated a drop in the pass rate”.
She said the 76.4% pass rate was a “pleasant and welcome surprise”.
“It is really a cause for celebration. Our learners are under extremely difficult circumstances, and this matric cohort in particular has done exceptionally well under the circumstances,” she said.
The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) said it was “pleased” with the 76.4% matric pass rate, which represented a “marginal increase” from 2020: “Naptosa acknowledges that the past two years have been extremely challenging for all in the education sector, especially the Class of 2021, having to contend with rotational, online and hybrid classes as well as forced school closures.
“This improved result is remarkable in the context of the difficulties that the class of 2021 faced,” the union said.