Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi is pushing for a debate on the need for a single national examination body to oversee the National Senior Certificate examinations in both public and private schools.

He said the rationale for this proposal was to ensure that all learners write similar examinations monitored by a single national examination body.

“Currently‚ there is virtually little difference between the curriculum offered by public and independent schools. Secondly‚ both systems use similar criteria to assess a pass or a fail in the National Senior Certificate. Furthermore‚ all learners compete for jobs and careers in the national and global economy and are also competing for spaces in one single higher education system‚” he said on Sunday.

Lesufi said initial responses from some members of the public regarding the proposal indicated that this proposal was misunderstood.

“In fact‚ some people see this as an attempt to lower standards. Nothing could be further from the truth‚” Lesufi said.

The pass rate for the Independent Examination Board (IEB) for the matric class of 2017 increased from 98.67% in 2016 to 98.76%.

Of the 112‚130 pupils that sat for the IEB exams‚ 88.50% are eligible to enrol for a university degree‚ 8.96% to study towards a diploma and 1.3% achieved a pass only at the higher certificate level.

The matric class of 2017 for the NSC examinations‚ overseen by the basic education department‚ achieved a pass rate of 75.1%‚ a 2.6 percentage points increase from 72.5% in the previous year.

The number of pupils in exams administered by the department who qualified for admission to university with a bachelor pass is 153‚610; the number who achieved a diploma pass for college is 161‚133; and 86‚265 obtained a higher certificate (a basic pass) which allows admission to a Technical and Vocational and Training college.