Matric Results 2009 Minister's speech
Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 7 Jan, 2010Statement by the Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga,
MP, on the announcement of the National Senior Certificate Grade 12
Examination results for 2009 at the Media Centre, Union Buildings,
Pretoria on 07 January.
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The national pass rate of the National Senior Certificate examinations for 2009 is 60.7%. This means that there is a slight decline in the pass rate from 2008 of 2% across the country.
I wish to state directly that even though this shift is marginal, I am most unhappy with the decline in the national pass rate and indeed in the overall pass rate of just over 60%. The National Senior Certificate is an important indicator of the quality of our education system, and as a country we cannot afford to allow our young people to achieve results that are in the main average or below average.
In announcing the provincial results, I would like to commend KwaZulu-Natal as that province has shown an improvement in the pass rate of 3.5%, up from 57.6% in 2008 to 61.1% in 2009. The province is to be commended on its efforts. I am also pleased to report that the results in the Eastern Cape have stabilised at around 50%. Both these provinces are essentially rural in character with high rates of poverty, but both have shown that they have managed to buck the downward trend of the past years and have begun the turn around.
I am however disappointed in the overall results within particular provinces. Those in the Free State declined by 2.4%, and the pass rates in the Western Cape and North West provinces have declined by 2.7% and 0.5% respectively. In addition, the pass rate in Limpopo declined by 5.4% and that of the Northern Cape by a staggering 11%. Gauteng's pass rate has also shown a decline of 4.6 %. Mpumalanga has registered the poorest performance with a pass rate of 47.9%, a decline of 3.9%.
<snip> .... We recognise that the NSC results are an important indicator of the quality of our education system. While the nation rightly takes great interest in the NSC performance of our learners, we should all be reminded that we cannot only sit up and pay attention to our learners when they enter the Further Education and Training Band in grade 10 or begin to concern ourselves when they reach Grade 12. We need to remember that good teaching and learning need to take place from Grade R. My Department recognises the necessity for the development of strong foundational skills. From this year, the Department of Basic Education will extend the Foundations for Learning Programme to all primary schools to ensure the improvement of the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy.
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