Photo by: Duane Daws
The Department of Basic Education has announced that more than 50% of matriculants have obtained passes that will give them access to higher learning institutions.
"More than 50% of learners passed with the required standard to enable them to access higher education," said the department's Dr Rufus Poliah at a technical briefing on Wednesday night.
This briefing was ahead of the announcement of the National Senior Certificate pass rate in Johannesburg on Wednesday by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.
Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal were the leading provinces in terms of the number of Bachelor’s passes.
Gauteng was top of the charts, with 37 582 learners receiving Bachelor’s passes.
However, there were also 18 schools who recorded a 0% pass rate.
Poliah said the department would demand answers from them.
A point in sharp focus in the briefing was the issue of "progressed learners".
Progressed learners are learners who have failed a grade for two consecutive years and are then promoted to the following grade. According to statistics released by the department, the number of progressed learners in 2016 increased significantly from 2015.
Some 43 071 more learners were progressed in 2016, which could have a significant impact on the overall results.
Poliah said more than 60 000 enrolled pupils did not sit for the examinations.
"Out of the 674 652 learners that registered, 64 474 didn't write exams. Out of that 64 000, 20 000 were absent for some reason."
The balance would sit for multiple examinations over two years, he said.