Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced the drop of the 2015 matric pass rate from 75.8% to 70.7% in Midrand, Johannesburg today.
799,306 matrics enrolled for this year's exams, making them the largest cohort of matric writers ever.
From this historic group of learners 455,825 candidates passed.
Motshekga noted that had the 'progressed' learners, who failed Grade 11 twice and were promoted to Grade 12 without meeting the passing criteria not been added to the total, the pass rate would have been 74%.
Western Cape is the best performing province with 84.7%, followed by Gauteng with 84.2% and Free State at 81.6%.
The minister explained that the reason for the decrease in the bottom 3 provinces: Limpopo, KZN and Eastern Cape is due to the fact that these provinces account for about 55% of the total learner body.
"That's where things went wrong. The number of learners that failed in these three provinces gave us a drop of 9%"
Sedibeng East in Gauteng was named the top performing district in South Africa with 90.4%.
Motshekga also noted that the gap between affluent schools and poorer schools in terms of results has decreased.
Despite a drop in overall pass rate, total number of distinctions has increased from 59 981 in 2014 to 63 394 in 2015.
The number of learners qualifying for Bachelors degree has also increased from 150 737 in 2014 to 166 263 in 2015.
According to Motshekga the Bachelors pass rate has also increased with 90,027 girls passing followed by 76,236 boys in the same degree.
Motshekga said that although the overall pass rate has dropped "the class of 2015 must be commended for maintaining this trend of 70% plus pass rate".
"For the past four years, the NSC pass rate has been above 70%," she said.
Matric exams were declared free, fair and credible by quality assurer Umalusi.
Provinces in order of performance:
1. Western Cape - 84.7
2. Gauteng - 84.2
3. Free state- 81.6
4. North West - 81.5
5. Mpumalanga - 78.6
6. North Rand Cape - 69.4
7. Limpopo - 65.9
8. KZN - 60.7
9. Eastern Cape - 56.8
2015 national matric pass rate 70.7%, down from last year
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced the drop of the 2015 matric pass rate from 75.8% to 70.7% in Midrand, Johannesburg today.
799,306 matrics enrolled for this year's exams, making them the largest cohort of matric writers ever.
From this historic group of learners 455,825 candidates passed.
Motshekga noted that had the 'progressed' learners, who failed Grade 11 twice and were promoted to Grade 12 without meeting the passing criteria not been added to the total, the pass rate would have been 74%.
Western Cape is the best performing province with 84.7%, followed by Gauteng with 84.2% and Free State at 81.6%.
The minister explained that the reason for the decrease in the bottom 3 provinces: Limpopo, KZN and Eastern Cape is due to the fact that these provinces account for about 55% of the total learner body.
"That's where things went wrong. The number of learners that failed in these three provinces gave us a drop of 9%"
Sedibeng East in Gauteng was named the top performing district in South Africa with 90.4%.
Motshekga also noted that the gap between affluent schools and poorer schools in terms of results has decreased.
Despite a drop in overall pass rate, total number of distinctions has increased from 59 981 in 2014 to 63 394 in 2015.
The number of learners qualifying for Bachelors degree has also increased from 150 737 in 2014 to 166 263 in 2015.
According to Motshekga the Bachelors pass rate has also increased with 90,027 girls passing followed by 76,236 boys in the same degree.
Motshekga said that although the overall pass rate has dropped "the class of 2015 must be commended for maintaining this trend of 70% plus pass rate".
"For the past four years, the NSC pass rate has been above 70%," she said.
Matric exams were declared free, fair and credible by quality assurer Umalusi.
Provinces in order of performance:
1. Western Cape - 84.7
2. Gauteng - 84.2
3. Free state- 81.6
4. North West - 81.5
5. Mpumalanga - 78.6
6. North Rand Cape - 69.4
7. Limpopo - 65.9
8. KZN - 60.7
9. Eastern Cape - 56.8
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