More than 460 schools in Gauteng achieved a 90% matric pass rate in the 2021 exams. 

This was announced by education MEC Panyaza Lesufi at an event held at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, on the East Rand, on Friday.

“We have 130 schools that have achieved a 100% matric pass rate. No district has performed below national average and the best district [in the country] also comes from Gauteng (Tshwane South),” Lesufi said. 

The province has achieved 82.8%, a slight decreased from the 83.2% obtained in 2020.

Gauteng retained its spot as the second best performing province in the country for the third consecutive year.

Free State which recorded 85.7%, an improvement of 0.6 percentage points retains the No1 spot

Lesufi said even though he is not proud to be number two in the country, he was pleased to be among the best performing provinces.

Lesufi added that 79 of the matric pupils were part of those shortlisted among the best awards in the country. 

Lesufi said there are also schools that have performed very well. He said Diepsloot Secondary achieved 77% bachelor passes while Diepsloot Combined attained 78% bachelor passes. 

“These are two schools that have demonstrated our commitment to turn around township education,” Lesufi said.

He said he was also proud of schools of specialisation in the province that have done really well.

“A school in Zola was vandalised and the community took a decision to have it closed and that year they had achieved 37% matric pass rate. For three years we were trying to determine what kind of intervention we can bring to the school.

“We then went to the SAA (SA Airways) and asked for one engine so that learners can learn to dismantle and assemble an engine. I am proud to say today that schools known as Curtis Nkondlo has achieve 95% matric pass rate.

“Also Songanguve Tech, which specialises in fixing BMW engines, has achieved 96%,”  Lesufi said. 

The MEC added that the department is working at having each and every school to specialise.

There are 35 new schools of specialisation that will be launched in the province, he announced.

Lesufi also mentioned that the province achieved 100% in sign language. 

“We also had an increase pass rate of physical science from 72% to 74.8%. This demonstrate that our system is stabilised,” he said.