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In addition to AfriForum’s comments on the alarming dropout rate of learners before they reach matric, the organisation has written to the Minister of Basic Education requesting that the Department also publish the percentage of learners per province who left school between Grade 10 and Grade 12 before the start of the matric examination, along with the provincial matric pass rates.

According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, it’s interesting to compare the matric pass rates of provinces with each other, but when this excludes the throughput rate, it does not paint a true picture of the actual performance of provinces. This also results in the public not having clarity about which provinces are still experiencing serious education challenges.

“The official announcements of the pass rates last night devoted much time to the difference between the Department’s definition of the matric pass rate and the throughput rate. The reality, however, is that every learner who is not adequately schooled, faces a bleak future. South Africa already faces an unacceptably high youth unemployment rate. Furthermore, the quality of the country’s education does not compare with that of other countries when looking at the findings of the most recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the 2024 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). That the Department considers a 64% throughput rate as reassuringly comparable to that of other countries, is a cause for concern,” says Bailey.

“The country’s economic growth and social stability depend on both the matric pass rate and the throughput rate. Announcements that present the national and provincial percentages of both rates together will create much more clarity about the obstacles we are still facing in education.”

Issued by AfriForum