Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane has praised the province's top matriculants at public schools for their dedication and hard work in 2023.

The Gauteng Class of 2023 achieved a pass rate of 85.4% - an improvement of 0.95% from the 2022 pass rate of 84.4%.

The department celebrated at Microsoft's offices in Bryanston on Friday.  

Chiloane announced that the province improved from 43.4% of bachelor's passes in 2022 to 44.4% last year. He said the province's matriculants achieved 41 459 distinctions.

All 15 districts improved their bachelor's pass rates and contributed 20% of all bachelor's passes achieved countrywide.

Chiloane added that 27.4% of the province's pupils passed with a diploma pass.

He announced that almost 15 616 more girls wrote the matric exams compared to the number of boys. Chiloane said 46.7% of girl pupils achieved a bachelor's pass compared to 41.2% of boys.

"Despite the lower enrolment of boy learners, boy learners pass rates are higher than those of girl learners when it comes to maths and science performance. We will review and intensify our interventions in 2024 to address these disparities," he said.

Chiloane said 109 030 pupils passed in Gauteng compared to 113 006 in 2022.

This represented 19% of the total number of pupils who passed nationally, slightly down from 2022.

"We remain convinced we are on the right track and can do much better provincially. Gauteng is still the leading performing province by the size of the provincial system," Chiloane said.

At the national results release event on Thursday evening, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said Gauteng scored the third-highest pass rate among the country's provinces after the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.  

Chiloane said the Class of 2023 faced significant disruptions over the last three years, with more than half of teaching time lost in the Grade 10 and Grade 11 years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"These learners had to deal with a reduced exposure to face-to-face teaching and learning. Learners have also had to grapple with several other issues while preparing for exams, including load shedding, a new curriculum, and the psychological impact of the pandemic," he said.

The following public schools achieved a 100% pass rate and 95% bachelor's passes:

• Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool
• Hoërskool Menlopark
• Hoërskool Garsfontein
• Hoërskool Waterkloof
• Parktown High School for Girls
• Hoërskool Randburg

Chiloane gave special recognition to Raymond Mhlaba Maths, Science and ICT School of Specialisation, which achieved a 100% pass rate and 85% bachelor's passes.

He also acknowledged Imbali Combined School, an independent school in Orange Farm, which achieved a 100% pass rate and 85% bachelor's passes.

"We urge all independent schools in townships to follow this good example."

Chiloane said the issue of underperforming schools needed to be resolved as 34 public and independent schools achieved less than 65% compared to 53 public and independent schools in 2022.

"In the next few days, the department will meet with the school management teams of all public schools that performed below 65% to hold them account for their poor performance," he said.