A total of 440,702 grade 12 pupils passed last year's matric exams, the department of basic education director-general Mathanzima Mweli announced on Monday afternoon.

“The class of 2020 has outperformed the class of 2019,” he said.

The results of full-time candidates in the provinces, excluding those of progressed pupils (those who were progressed to grade 12 despite failing grade 11), showed that the Free State had a pass rate of 91.6%.

The pass rates for the other provinces (excluding progressed pupils) were:

• Gauteng - 88.4%;
• Western Cape - 82.9%;
• KwaZulu-Natal - 81.9%;
• North West - 81.5%;
• Mpumalanga - 77.9%;
• Northern Cape -  76.1%;
• Eastern Cape - 74.2%; and
• Limpopo - 73.9%.

Of the 85 districts in the country, only two achieved a pass rate of 50-59%, while 83 districts achieved a pass rate of 60% and above.

Mweli said that one province accounted for six of the top 10 districts while another accounted for three and a third province accounted for one of the top 10 districts.

Importantly, 642 quintile 1 schools (the poorest schools) achieved a pass rate of between 80% to 100%, while 600 were from quintile 2 schools; 494 from quintile three schools; 324 from quintile 4 schools and 601 from quintile 5 schools (the wealthiest schools).

At least 75.5% of pupils passed accounting at the 30% level, 80.8% maths literacy, 53.8% maths and 65.8% physical science.

The number of distinctions bagged by candidates in the different subjects included accounting (6.2%), business studies (3.9%), economics (1.3%), geography (1%), history (6.3%), life sciences (2.3%), maths (3.2%) and physical science (3.7%).

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