The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has announced five districts in the province have reached over 80% matric pass rate, with the province receiving an overall pass rate of 81.54%.
On Friday morning, Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier visited the Centre of Science and Technology (Cosat) in Khayelitsha which increased its matric pass rate to 99% from 92.5% in 2022.
He said 61.2% of candidates achieved a bachelors pass.
“Every candidate at the school enrols for Mathematics and Physical Sciences, which are key indicators of education quality. This year, Cosat achieved a Mathematics pass rate of 99.0%, and a Physical Sciences pass rate of 91.3%.
“The school produced a whopping 107 distinctions this year, including 10 Mathematics distinctions (including three candidates with over 90% for Mathematics) and four Physical Sciences distinctions,” Maynier said.
Cosat principal, Tiro Motaung said hard work has been the source of their success.
“Our success is rooted in the culture of hard work, long school days (we finish school at 4pm from Tuesday to Thursday), Saturday school for intervention, issuing two reports per term, and offering a variety of after-school activities like robotics, STEM club, debate, music and sports. We embody our school motto ‘No excuses, just success’,” Motaung said.
Maynier said for years the Metro East Education District schools were largely written off as doomed to the bottom of the district table due to tough socio-economic circumstances.
“Director Landie Diamond declared last year that in 2023 the district would break through the 80% barrier. And breakthrough they did, achieving a pass rate of 83.52% – a jump of 5.23 percentage points which is the largest district increase in the province.
“The district’s bachelor’s pass rate has also broken through the 40% barrier, increasing by 2.46 percentage points to 41.87%, meaning that more learners in some of our poorest communities have achieved a quality matric pass that allows them to attend university. We congratulate the entire district team and our Metro East schools for these achievements,” Maynier said.
Five districts in the province reached the 80% and over range:
“Metro North Education District (85.40%) is our top achieving district – congratulations to Director Wendy Horn and her team for this achievement.”
– Eden and Central Karoo Education District (84.59%)
– Overberg Education District (83.88%)
– Metro East Education District (83.52%)
– Metro Central Education District (80.89%)
Metro South Education District (77.89%), West Coast Education District (77.69%), and Cape Winelands Education District (74.61%), will be hard at work this year to move into the 80%+ range.
“There is more good news to share in terms of our quintile results, where our no-fee Quintile 1, 2, and 3 schools are rapidly closing the education inequality gap.
“Schools in Quintile 1, despite their tough socio-economic circumstances, increased their pass rate for the second year running to 72%. They also achieved a bachelors pass rate of 27.7%, an increase from last year, and we have no doubt they will move into the 30%+ category soon.
“Our Quintile 2 schools have achieved extraordinary results this year, increasing their pass rate by a massive 7.2 percentage points to 77.5%. More importantly, they boosted their bachelors pass rate to 30.5%, allowing these candidates to attend university.
“Quintile 3 schools achieved a 78% pass rate and a 32.2% bachelors pass rate, both increases on last year’s scores, once again proving that where there is a will, there is a way, and lower quintile schools can produce brighter futures for our learners,” Maynier said.
Candidates who did not achieve desired results have options.
Learners who did not pass, can complete Grade 12 and the WCED encourages all learners to apply for a re-mark, re-check if they feel their results do not reflect their performance or to re-write the exams in June.
More information is available on the WCED website.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
IOL