STATEMENT BY MINISTER DAVID MAYNIER

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF EDUCATION

Date: 19 January 2023

MEDIA RELEASE: Western Cape #ClassOf2022 beat the odds!

We are delighted that the Western Cape matric Class of 2022 has beaten the odds and increased our provincial matric pass rate to 81.4%, with 49 102 candidates passing their exams – the largest number of successful candidates we’ve ever had!

More importantly, every single one of our successful candidates received a matric pass that makes them eligible to apply to universities or colleges. This means that we have extended opportunity to nearly 50 000 young people who are now ready to take the next step into higher education and skills development, which is great news!

In addition, five of our candidates were recognised by the national minister as the best of the best – including the top candidate in the whole country!

Top candidates in Quintile 5:

1^st place: Kelly Grace Prowse (Rustenberg Girls’ High School)

2^nd place: Simone Anna Mart Louw (Bloemhof High School)

3^rd place: Kenneth Janson (Hoer Jongenskool Paarl)

Top candidates in Quintile 3:

2^nd place: Athenkosi Khonzani (Centre of Science and Technology – COSAT)

Top candidates in Mathematics:

1^st place: Kelly Grace Prowse (Rustenberg Girls’ High School)

3^rd place: Jason Frederik de Villiers (Rondebosch Boys’ High)

What makes this achievement all the more extraordinary is that the matric Class of 2022 was at the greatest disadvantage due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and other disruptions during the exam period.

This class was one of the last to go back to school in 2020, and were not at school every day during 2021. Their curriculum was trimmed for three years, but the matric exams tested the full content. And they did not have any exam practice in Grade 10 and 11.

In matric, they have struggled with the ongoing challenge of load-shedding. While we were able to conduct all of our exams successfully despite the power cuts, they left many learners in the dark in the evenings when they needed to study.

Candidates in Cape Town had the added disruption of a major taxi strike during their exams. Due to the extraordinary efforts of our schools, parents, and learners, our candidates were all able to write their exams during the strike.

This was also the biggest matric class we have ever had, with 2 629 extra candidates compared to last year, and our highest exam turnout rate since 2015. In other words, a greater proportion of the learners who registered for the matric exams at the beginning of 2022 actually wrote the full set of exams than in recent years.

So raising the pass rate this year really is an outstanding achievement. Their success has two key ingredients:

Firstly, our candidates received incredible support from their teachers, parents, and district offices, who pulled out all stops to make sure our learners could succeed. 26 000 learners attended winter school, and 23 000 attended spring school, during school holidays. In addition, schools held afternoon and Saturday classes, districts organized streamed lessons, our ePortal had dedicated matric resources, and special attention was also paid to the wellbeing and mental health of our learners this year.

We thank everyone who played a role in supporting our candidates, especially our matric teachers who have done a phenomenal job in tough circumstances to prepare their learners.

But the second, and most important, key ingredient is the unbeatable spirit of the Class of 2022.

Faced with the challenges of the pandemic and load-shedding, they could have been tempted to give up. But they showed incredible grit, and gave their all, putting in hundreds of extra hours of work, and investing in their own futures.

We are so proud of them, and we can’t wait to see what they do next!

Candidates can collect their results from their schools from 11h00 tomorrow, 20 January 2022. They will also be available on the WCED website:

Statement issued by David Maynier, Western Cape Minister of Education, 19 January 2023

Update:

STATEMENT BY MINISTER DAVID MAYNIER

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF EDUCATION

Date: 20 January 2023

Release: immediate

Note to editors: please email or WhatsApp Kerry for a soundbite. Statement and soundbite also available on the WCED media WhatsApp group.

Photos available here:

MEDIA RELEASE: #ClassOf2022 continues to close the inequality gap

This morning I visited Hector Peterson Secondary School in Wallacedene to celebrate the release of the individual 2022 National Senior Certificate Results to candidates.

The school has produced excellent results this year, despite the surrounding community facing so many challenges. They achieved an incredible 92.6% pass rate in the 2022 matric exams – a whopping 14.1 percentage point increase from last year.

Moreover, 55% of their candidates achieved bachelor’s passes – up from 40.2% last year. And they did this all while increasing the number of candidates writing from 204 to 229.

We congratulate Principal Mike Mavovana and the matric teachers of Hector Peterson Secondary School, and thank them for the support they have given their learners.

And we especially congratulate Hector Peterson Secondary School’s matric Class of 2022: they have shown incredible grit and determination, and should be very proud of their achievement.

District results

It is fitting that we visited Metro East Education District for the individual results release today, for the second year running. Director Landie Diamond and her team have done a fantastic job increasing the district’s pass rate by 1.15 percentage points to 78.29% this year, adding to their increase achieved last year.

Gone are the days when it was assumed that Metro East would be at the bottom of the district log. They are now knocking on the door of 80%! And they are closing the inequality gap that schools in areas with difficult socio-economic circumstances face.

We also congratulate Overberg, Cape Winelands, and Metro Central Education districts for increasing their pass rates, and Metro North Education District for claiming the top spot at 85.46%. Well done to Director Wendy Horn and team!

The district results are as follows:

Quintile results

There is more good news regarding the inequality gap from our quintile results for no-fee schools.

Our quintile 1 schools raised their pass rate 2 percentage points to 70.8%, beating quintile 2 schools. And our quintile 3 schools also increased their pass rate by 0.3 percentage points, to 76.1%. These schools are rapidly closing the gap with higher quintiles.

We are also delighted that the number of underperforming schools – schools that have achieved below 60% in the exams – has declined this year, from 38 in 2021, to 30 in 2022. We work hard with our underperforming schools, so it is great to see this number declining.

Re-marks, re-checks, and supplementary exams

For those candidates that did not achieve their desired results, there are options. I would encourage all learners who did not pass their exams not to give up and to continue doing whatever they can to complete Grade 12.

We encourage all learners who did not achieve their desired marks to apply for a re-mark or re-check if they do not feel their results reflect their performance, or to write the supplementary exams in June. More information on these options is available on the WCED website.

There are measures in place to receive counselling for anyone who is disappointed with their results, either by approaching their school, which will put them in touch with the relevant people in the district offices, or by phoning the Safe Schools Hotline - 0800 45 46 47.

Congratulations again to our Class of 2022 – a fantastic set of achievements of which we can all be very proud!

Candidates can collect their results from their schools today, 20 January 2022. They are also available on the WCED website:

https://wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/

Statement issued by David Maynier, Western Cape Minister of Education, 20 January 2023