Focus on improving quality, not just quantity, of matric passes

By David Maynier

For the 2024 matric exams, candidates from the Western Cape achieved our province’s highest pass rate, and highest bachelors pass rate, since the introduction of the National Senior Certificate in 2008. 

This is an outstanding achievement, and one of which of our schools and candidates can be proud. We thank all the principals, teachers, and parents who supported our matrics so that they could do their very best in these exams. 

The next question that follows is what this means for these candidates in the future, and for employers in our province. Yes, a matric pass unlocks opportunities, but how do we unlock even greater opportunities for growth in the Western Cape?

We must seek to improve the quality of matric passes, and not just the quantity of matric passes, if our basic education system is to produce matriculants that are ready to move into higher education and employment. 

To do so, we must dig deeper into our matric results to make sure that we are focusing on the key quality indicators that matter when it comes to quality education. 

We need to look at our bachelors pass rates, because we don’t just want our candidates to pass matric, we want them to pass matric well, and to use that matric pass to build a better future. 

Yes, our bachelors pass rate for 2024 is the highest we have achieved to date, but it could be, and should be, higher. 

The problem isn’t the number of candidates, because a school with a large matric cohort like Mondale High School with 252 candidates has a bachelors pass rate of 81.0%.

And it can’t be because of social challenges in the surrounding community, because a school like Hector Peterson Secondary School in Wallacedene has a bachelors pass rate of 55.7%.

And it can’t be because of the economic circumstances, because a Quintile 2 no-fee school like Chris Hani Secondary School in Khayelitsha has a bachelors pass rate of 68.8%.

It can be done!

We need to look at our achievement in Mathematics. 

Yes, our Mathematics pass rate is the highest in the country at 78.0%, but we need to see more candidates writing Mathematics, more candidates passing Mathematics, and more candidates passing Mathematics well with a score of 60% or more. 

And again, our schools are not limited by their circumstances:

Joe Slovo Secondary School has a Mathematics pass rate of 96.0%, with 6 candidates earning distinctions for Mathematics. 

Siphamandla Secondary School has a Mathematics pass rate of 95.4%, with 11 candidates earning distinctions for Mathematics. 

And COSAT has a Mathematics pass rate of 98.3%, with 19 candidates earning distinctions for Mathematics. 

These schools are all in Khayelitsha. 

It can be done!

And we need to look at improvement in pass rates in underperforming schools, because we must ensure that more of our matrics succeed in their exams.

It is clear that with the hard work of a dedicated teaching staff, the buy-in from the community, and the support of the Department, schools can improve even when the public has written them off.

Lotus High School had a pass rate of just 38.2% in 2022. Through the incredible efforts of their principal, Stephen Price, and teachers, as well as support from schools and communities around them, in 2024, they achieved a pass rate of 83.3%.

I have no doubt that this school is going to go from strength to strength.

Crestway High School had a pass rate of just 35.9% in 2023 – the lowest of any school in the province. 

But with a dedicated principal like Cheryl Jacobs, and hardworking teachers, the commitment of learners, and help from academics and alumni and the community, they have shaken off that result and turned things around.

In 2024, they nearly doubled their pass rate, to 66.1%, and I have no doubt that they will achieve another increase in 2025. 

It can be done!

If we are serious about quality education, then we need to be serious about quality indicators.

We need to invest in improving our bachelors pass rate, our Mathematics achievement, Physical Science achievement and overall improvement in underperforming schools. 

To do this, we have set some clear priorities for the next five years.

We will focus on improving learning outcomes, in early learning, Maths and Science, and technical education.

We will focus on expanding access to education, by opening new schools.

We will focus on improving school performance, with clear performance targets, support for staff, and implementing common assessment standards.

We will focus on building public-private partnerships, mobilising private philanthropic and corporate investment in our education system.

We will focus on evidence-based policy development, and improving our monitoring and evaluation capability.

We will focus on mobilising sustainable, stable funding for education.

And we will focus on leading education reform, bringing new models and ideas into the education sector.

This will not be easy, given the challenges we face. But it can be done, with the support of our officials, school staff, parents, and school communities. 

* David Maynier is the MEC for Education in the Western Cape. 

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.