Many experts and researchers predicted that the matric results for the 2021 academic year would see a decline from the year before because those matrics didn't get to complete their grade 11 curriculum and rushed to finish the grade 12 curriculum.
The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga told SABC News that she also expected this due to the adversities faced by these matrics as a result of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the school system.
"I think it just shows now the system is quite resilient it can withstand storms," said the Minister.
The 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) overall pass rate is 76,4% this is 0,2% higher than the 2020 pass rate.
Minister Motshekga says that she thinks the disadvantage these matrics were dealing with caused them to work even harder to achieve the best results they could under the circumstances.
She has also credited the media and other stakeholders who have organized an "aggressive and comprehensive program" to support the matric class of 2021.
The 2021 NSC candidates achieved the biggest number of bachelor passes historically, the Minister says that this coupled with the number of distinctions and diplomas shows how the quality of matric passes have improved.
Motshekga said:
The quality of passes really gave us a slight improvement which I thought was a good thing which made us happy but we were quite surprised.
She believes the panic and anxiety around the disadvantage these learners had caused everybody to rally around them and this shows in the results they achieved.
While the Free State, Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal recorded the highest pass rates respectively, the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Limpopo recorded the lowest pass rates with Limpopo achieving the lowest pass rate of 66,7%.
Motshekga says that districts are mostly responsible for ensuring the success of the matric classes and that MECs will be sent to those districts who are not performing well in order to push them to do better.
The Minister thanked all the learners, teachers, families of learners and the general public for all the hard work put towards supporting matrics so that they could achieve success in these matric results.
