Region exceeds Grade 12 national results

THE Garden Route and Central Karoo region’s class of 2017 has shown once again it is a force to be reckoned with when it managed to exceed the national pass rate by a large margin.

The district managed an 81.7% pass rate making it one of eight districts in the Western Cape to obtain a pass rate above 80%.

The Western Cape achieved an 84.4% pass rate – down from 87.7% last year – while nationally 75.1% of matriculants made the grade. This is a 2.6% improvement from last year.

According to the Education Department’s five-year review, three schools in the district managed a perfect score five years in a row including Heidelberg High School, Oakdale Agricultural School in Riversdale and Shalom Academy in Ladismith.

Oakdale staff said this was just a five- year window into results and that the school had not missed a beat for the past 21 years.

Out of the 47 schools in the district, six obtained a 100% pass rate in 2017.

The biggest improvements in the district came from Concordia High School in Knysna and Zwartberg High School in Prince Albert. Both schools managed to up their pass rate by 20%.

Concordia managed to obtain a 76.4% compared to last year’s 55.1% and Zwartberg achieved 89.7% compared to the previous year’s 69.2%.

“It came down to dedication from all. We have a team of very dedicated teachers who were there every step of the way.

“Another ingredient in our recipe for success is a structured academic system. Hard work from our students also made a big difference,” said Oakdale principal André Latsky.

More than 78% of the school’s pupils achieved bachelor passes and the top learner obtained a 93% average.

Wittedrift High School in Plettenberg Bay principal Jeremy Marallich said although the school dropped from its 100% pass rate from last year to 94.2% this year, he was very proud of its achievement.

Western Cape Education Minister Debbie Schäfer said while there was a tendency to focus solely on the provincial pass rate they also considered other important indicators of success so that they could then determine if the system was ultimately improving or where it needed to be improved.

“Traditionally, this province has put particular emphasis on the retention of learners in the system, those achieving access to a Bachelor’s Degree, and pass rates for maths and science,” Schäfer said.

She was especially pleased that the Western Cape had again achieved the highest percentage of bachelor passes in the country, with 39.1% of learners achieving this.

“In maths, the Western Cape achieved the highest pass rate, achieving 73.9%. In physical sciences, it achieved a pass rate of 74.0%.

“This places us second in the country to the Free State in this subject for 2017.”