KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has heaped praise on the Matric Class of 2022 for surpassing all expectations and achieved an 83% pass rate, which is an increase of 6.2% from 2021.

Speaking during the announcement of KwaZulu-Natal’s matric results held in Durban, Premier Dube-Ncube described the results as a massive achievement as it exceeded the 80% pass rate benchmark set by the province.

“We congratulate the Matric Class of 2022 for bettering last year’s 76.80% pass rate and achieving a massive 83% in 2022. Last year the floods pummelled KwaZulu-Natal causing damage to infrastructure and disrupted education. This resulted in 824 learners in eThekwini being placed among the displaced in 135 mass care centres, and later being moved into Temporary Residential Units. Out of this number at least 36 were in matric in 2022, and four had special needs. Despite these challenges our resilience showed up. We ensured that these learners were given a fair chance and were not prejudiced by the impact of the flood disaster,” said Premier Dube-Ncube.

The Premier said the 2022 results reflect an improvement in all our districts with Umkhanyakude being the most improved district and no school received a 0% pass rate in the province. This follows the rollout of the Ten-Point improvement plan championed by the Department of Education.

“The Department of Education will come up with a decisive intervention strategy to deal with the situation in the 11 schools that performed below 30%. We note that they were 22 in 2021 and now have reduced to 11. The Education Department must conduct an evaluation and introduce an academic improvement plan with immediate effect. The Executive Council will receive the report with school by school analysis and will assist with relevant interventions,” said Premier Dube-Ncube.

Premier Dube-Ncube was also pleased with the increase in the number of Bachelor passes as well as an improvement in the pass rate of township and rural schools.

“We are excited about the increase in the number of Bachelor passes from 37% in 2021 to 42.5% in 2022, which marks a 5.4% improvement. The province is also pleased that girl learners performed well. Girl learners obtained an overall pass percentage of 83.6% while the boy learners obtained 82.3%. We will continue to intervene to ensure that female learners have equal opportunities of success like male learners. We have noted an improvement in township and rural schools that achieved 100% pass rate from 145 in 2021 to 212 in 2022. This achievement demonstrates that we are closing the gap between the schools serving poor communities in rural areas and townships and those in middle class areas. This is a clear impact of our pro-poor policies as government bearing fruit,” said Premier Dube-Ncube.

The Premier encouraged learners to take advantage of digitisation, robotics and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“We are paying attention to subjects like Coding, Mathematics and Physical Science. The province also recently launched the Mobile Digital Analytics Skills Laboratory to ensure that young people are exposed to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We have taken a decision as the Provincial Government that we must assess the viability of schools with a low enrolment rate. Our view is that some of them could be converted into Vocational Skills Centers to address among others the shortage of technical skills for the country. These among others include among others Artisan, Plumbers, Electricians, Construction and Carpentry,” Premier Dube-Ncube.

The Premier will soon be convening the Human Resource Development Council, which is the structure that involves all the senior management of our higher education institutions.

“Central on our agenda will be to establish and assess the state of readiness for the Institutions of Higher Learning to commence the 2023 academic year. We will be having these engagements in order to ascertain the capacity of our Universities, TVETs and colleges to absorb all our students that have made our province proud in the Matric Class of 2022,” said Premier Dube-Dube.

The Premier expressed gratitude to educators, parents, the school governing bodies, labour unions and all stakeholders for playing a critical role in the success of the leaners throughout the system.

“We urge our communities to take a keen interest in the future of their children. Let us join hands and work with community policing forums to protect school assets and buildings from vandalism, theft and destruction. We continue to emphasize that communities need to understand that schools belong to them more than they do to government. The safety and security of teachers, schoolchildren, and property are also the responsibility of communities who must work with law enforcement agencies,” concluded Premier Dube-Ncube.

Ends

Issued by the Provincial Government of KwaZulu-Natal