The Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, announced that South Africa's national pass rate for the 2024 NSC has increased from 82.9% in 2023 to 87.3%. All the provinces achieved above 84 %, with the best-performing province being Free State, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, with Gauteng coming in third position.

GOING ALL THE WAY UP

Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube says 47.8% of NSC candidates in 2024 achieved a bachelor's pass, up from 40% in 2023. "The oath of office I took to uphold the Constitution of this country remains my guiding principle in delivering this important service: educating our nation so that we can rescue millions out of poverty and unemployment," said Gwarube. Gwarube emphasised the importance of early childhood development and nurturing children from an early age. She added:"We will continue our mass registration drive to formalise ECD programmes, aligned with the National Curriculum Framework for ECD and supported by newly developed learning and teaching support materials," says Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube. She said that it is important to expand on ECD from the start of the 2025 academic year. "We need to be sure that children are furnished with quality education. We will also prioritise the professional development of ECD practitioners to align with the newly developed curriculum."

PROVINCES PERFORMANCE

At a provincial level, Gwarube announced that all the provinces improved their performance from 2023 and achieved above 84%. The Free State retained its number one stop as the best-performing province at 91.0%, increasing its pass rate from 89.0% in 2023. KwaZulu Natal is at number two with a pass rate of 89.5%, an increase of 3.2% from 2023. Gauteng came in at number three, which increased its pass rate from 85.4% in 2023 to 88.4% in 2024; North-West took number four at 87.5%, an increase of 5.9% from 2023. The Western Cape is at number five, 86.6%, which is an increase of 5% from the previous year. Limpopo took position six with a pass rate of 85.01%, which is an increase of 5.5% from 2023.

MOST IMPROVED PROVINCE

Gwarube said Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, and the Northern Cape received a rounded-off pass rate of 85% and that they are ranked according to the highest raw percentage points achieved."Mpumalanga achieved a pass rate of 84.99% with a significant increase of 8% from 2023 at number seven. Eastern Cape achieved a pass rate of 84.98% and comes in at number eight with a 3.6% increase from 2023, and Northern Cape is at number 9 with 84.2%. "It is also important to add that the Northern Cape is the most improved province. It surged by 8.3% from 2023. No-fee schools improved their pass rate from 81% in 2023 to 85.8% in 2024. This too is another sign that our schooling system is maturing," she added.