The Independent Examinations Board (IEB) believes that the 98.46% matric pass rate for private schools reflects the dedication and tenacity of both pupils and the entire teaching community.
The IEB results released on Thursday show a pass rate slightly higher than last year’s 98.42%. Education experts say this provides hope that a slight increase would also be seen in public schools when the results are released on Thursday afternoon.
According to the academics, while there were limited disruptions such as load shedding, the 2023 National Senior Certificate (NSC) cohort was well placed to do better than the previous classes. All of the IEB NSC candidates who passed achieved good enough grades to proceed to tertiary education at one of the three levels.
About 88.59% of the cohort achieved entry to degree study, compared to 89.32% in 2022. At least 8.31% qualified for entry to diploma study, compared to 7.52% in 2022, and 1.57%, the same as in 2022, achieved entry for study at a higher certificate level.
The results are being published after Umalusi announced the approval of the release of the exam results on Monday.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga is expected to announce the highly anticipated public schools results this evening.
Reflecting on the results, IEB chief executive officer Confidence Dikgole said: “What, however, is not often talked about is the tremendous pressure brought to bear on learners by society.
Schools’ experience with young people points to the escalating mental health issues, which is perhaps one of the greatest challenges our youngsters face and does impact their ability to perform at their peak in a high-stakes examination.
“Mental well-being is directly linked to the stress society is placing on our young people to perform, to get top results and secure spots in top tertiary institutions. The competition is huge, and this is a global issue, not just unique to the South African context. Research also points to a correlation between a learner’s independence and their overall well-being,” said Dikgole.
Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) education lecturer Dorothy Esau said IEB results were normally a good indicator of the national matric academic performance.
“Therefore, a marginal increase in the public schools matric results is forecast based on historical data patterns over the past five years. However, we need to be cautious not to equate the projected marginal increase as indicative of a stabilisation to pre-Covid 19 conditions.
“Additionally, learner academic success does not operate in a vacuum and is the result of specific historical contextual factors such as socio-economic status, access to resources, parental involvement, academic and psycho-social support,” she said.
Esau said the current cohort of matriculants had exhibited tremendous resilience, as they had completed the majority of their high school career in a post-Covid 19 milieu. “For this reason, we are confident that they are better equipped for whatever challenges they might face in their immediate future.”
The deputy academic leader of the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Professor Vimolan Mudaly, said with the small numbers that the IEB works with, such good results could be expected.
“The public school sector may also show a slight increase, but I’m always sceptical about the reality of these statistics that we see. The condition of our schools and the commitment of all involved in basic education makes it almost impossible to accept that the majority of our children have a fair chance at performing well. I empathise with them,” he said.
Mudaly said available information showed that despite the disruptions in the previous years, learners continued to do well.
“There were minimal interruptions this year, so it could be that learners will perform better than expected.
“There were no reports of incorrect questions or leaked papers this year, so this makes us anticipate even better results than the last three years,” he added.
Cape Times