Congratulations to the matric class of 2023, who overcame many obstacles

Matric is an important milestone for young people, signalling the start of their lives as adults contributing to that better society we all want. The class of 2023 is to be congratulated for attaining an 82.9% pass rate, up from 80.1% in 2022 and 76.4% in 2021. For many who have just received their results there will be a range of emotions, from despair to elation. Slightly more than 40% of the successful candidates earned bachelor’s passes, which is their ticket to a university education.

Amid the dry statistics there emerged tales of heroism and sacrifice. Their schooling was badly disrupted during the Covid-19 lockdown and they have faced many obstacles, among them poverty, which makes for tough conditions for studying.

The struggle of KwaZulu-Natal pupil Bonukwenza Mtshali, one of the outstanding achievers in the province, as reported in TimesLIVE, illustrates the hardship that has to be overcome. With unemployed parents and no electricity in the home, Mtshali did the bulk of his studying by candlelight. He chose mathematics and physical science as matric subjects, which was especially difficult because the school he attended has no laboratories. He had to travel long distances to the nearest public library. A teacher gave him a rechargeable light to assist in his studies.

Said his father, Enosh Mtshali: “I’m so happy, I couldn’t sleep.’’

Basic education minister Angie Motshekga was correct to highlight the “extraordinary perseverance” demonstrated by the class of 2023. They were driven by a faith in the future that does not come easily to South Africans who have left school and come to realise that a bright future does not always materialise.

While the young people who passed amid difficulties are to be congratulated, there is lots still to be done to bring about the excellent and nonracial education system promised in 1994. During Motshekga’s 15-year tenure we had the “dumped textbooks” scandal, numerous cases of corruption involving the school feeding scheme and male teachers preying on their female pupils.

Several court actions have been launched by NGOs, mostly around the decrepit state of schools, especially in the rural areas. The department’s response to adverse rulings has been disappointing.

There are other structural problems. In the Free State, for example, 89% of matric pupils passed, making it the star performer in the country. However, almost 40% of pupils failed grade 10, and 25% failed grade 8. The policy of advancing pupils after a second failed year, with a 30% pass mark in some subjects, is hardly reflective of an education system that seeks to foster excellence in teaching and learning. The stranglehold of the teachers’ unions makes it difficult to introduce improvements.

It is sad to note that as many as 450,000 of the pupils who started grade 1 did not make it to matric last year. What has happened to them is worrying, as many are now unemployed and walking the streets looking for a job.

The high dropout rate, however much a cause for concern, does not detract from the overall progress in our education system, which attempted to amalgamate several education departments into one national department while trying to achieve greater equality between formerly white and township schools, and between rural and urban schools.

The release of the matric results has become an annual ritual in which the provinces vie for the limelight and the ANC government attempts to show that its efforts to transform education have borne fruit.

As the country approaches elections later this year, we hope the opposition parties will present voters with their own ideas to improve the education system. It is battling a shortage of resources and facing big questions, such as whether the education we are providing is appropriate in an age where career choices are changing constantly, and artificial intelligence threatens to change the world of work as we know it.

They were driven by a faith in the future that does not come easily