Durban - KWAZULU-Natal recorded a stunning improvement in its Grade 12 results, making the province the third best performing province in the country.
The results released last night by Minister Angie Motshekga showed that the province recorded a 6.2 percentage point improvement from 76.80% in 2021 to 83% in 2022 and was the most improved province.
The 2022 NSC overall national pass rate was 80.1%, an improvement of 3.7 percentage points compared with 76.4% achieved in 2021.
The number of candidates nationally qualifying for admission to Bachelor studies at universities is 278 814 – an improvement of 8.9% from 2021.
“We must state that KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng contributed the most Bachelor passes with 69 849 – an increase of 12.9% from 2021; and 58 119 – an increase of 4.1% from 2021, respectively,” Motshekga said.
She said it was also noteworthy that the Eastern Cape, KZN and Limpopo were also able to produce a combined total of 95 393 diploma passes.
“This kind of consistent and improved performance by our three most rural provinces, dispels the myth that quality education, is a character of urban provinces,” she said.
Education experts said the matric pass rate increase was expected, saying a lot of work had been done to prepare the Class of 2022, and due to disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, this cohort had also learnt to take greater responsibility for their own studies.
Professor Labby Ramrathan of the University of KwaZulu-Natal said he had expected an improvement in the pass rate because the Grade 12 pupils were better prepared.
He said after the impact of Covid-19, they learnt to be self-reliant when it came to studying.
“They have realised that a lot of personal time studying is required.”
Speaking on the possible future of these pupils, he said there were limited opportunities in the formal job market.
He said the entire job market was depressed and opportunities were scarce.
However, he added that due to the pandemic these young pupils had learnt the skills that could make them self-reliant and could give them the ability to generate income.
“They cannot be relying on job opportunities that are external to them.”
Ramrathan also touched on the increasing concern that the pass rate was not a true reflection of the state of education in the country as a number of pupils dropped out of school at various grades and did not get to Grade 12.
He said a mindset shift was required to address this problem, pointing out that very often, because of poverty and unemployment levels, guardians and parents were preoccupied so when a child dropped out of school, they were not alarmed because they had other pressing problems.
Ramrathan said there had been studies that suggested the drop-out rate could be as high as 30%.
Dr Solomon Mawela, a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at Unisa, said the pass rate had improved because a lot of work had been done by the teachers and the education department.
“We have seen the work being done through rotational classes, through holiday classes and the pupils have learnt new ways of studying like online learning, in KwaZulu-Natal for instance, despite all the challenges like the floods, the province has some of the most hard-working teachers,” Mawela said.
Speaking on the concerns that the pass rate is not a true reflection of the quality of education being offered in the country, he said the mistake society made was to assume that the teachers and the department should arrest the drop-out rate.
“It is not the job of the teacher to go out and look for a child that did not come to school, that is the job of society, if all of society could say (no child out of school during school hours) we would see the drop-out rate go down,” Mawela said.
“It is the society that has taught children that they should not take education seriously because they have seen their father or brother burn down a school during a protest for water or electricity which has taught them that education is not to be taken seriously.”