Cape Town - The Western Cape’s top achievers of the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams were celebrated at an award ceremony at Leeuwenhof, the premier’s official residence.
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer and Premier Alan Winde hosted the class of 2021 to congratulate them on their results.
Schäfer said she had been worried about this year’s matric results because she was not 100% sure which way it would go. On one hand, the class of 2021 was in Grade 11 during a disrupted 2020 school year and the grade was one of the last to return to class.
“We knew that they had missed a lot of class time that year, and had to catch up on so much work. On the other hand, with the mid-year exams cancelled, the class of 2021 had a very stable matric year, with more days in class than other years have had,” Schäfer said.
Schools and districts were phenomenal in holding afternoon and weekend classes, providing revision materials and online tutoring, among others, she said. The province matric pass rate increased by 1.3% to 81.2%.
It had the highest Bachelor’s pass rate, at 45.3% and the country’s highest percentage of distinctions. The province had the highest Grade 10 to 12 retention rate, at 70.3% – an increase of 3.7% points; a 1.6% point increase in the maths pass rate, to 72.4%; and a 2.2% point increase in the physical science pass rate, to 77.1%.
It also achieved the Department of Basic Education (DBE)’s top three maths candidates in the entire country, and the DBE’s top three quintile 5 candidates in the entire country, and the top learner in a public ordinary school in the country.
Schools and candidates that have shown the greatest improvement in pass rate over the period 2019 to 2021 were awarded, some learners were awarded the special ministerial awards.
Some criteria for the awards also included consistency in the number of Grade 12 candidates.
– Silikamva High School from Hout Bay and Somerset High School were the top two for the most improved public schools.
– Intshukumo Secondary School from Gugulethu was awarded the most improved Technical High School.
– Silikamva High School, Sea Point High School and among others Delft Technical High School were awarded for the greatest increase in the percentage of Bachelor’s Passes.
Jana Grobbelaar, from Parklands College, who was awarded top candidate from independent schools, said she was very happy to receive the award.
Grobbelaar said studying during the Covid-19 was the most challenging part, especially when they had to switch between online and in-person classes.
Top candidate from public ordinary schools, Ulrich le Roux, from Paarl Boys’ High School, who contracted Covid-19 just before he had to write his June exams, said his goal at the start of the year was just to work hard, but to balance that with relaxation.
His mother, Karen Le Roux, said she was an extremely proud mother. “I am so glad and overwhelmed.”
Le Roux said her son is going to study actuarial science at Stellenbosch University.
In congratulating the achievers, Premier Alan Winde said: “These are individuals who are really going to make the biggest difference in our universities, in our economy through entrepreneurship, and I really wish them well on the new and future journey.”
sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za