Class of 2021 surpasses all expectations

The overall matric pass rate for 2021 has marginally increased by 0.2 percentage points, but the number of distinctions obtained by the cohort shot up by 19.3%.

Basic education minister Angie Motshekga announced last night at the SABC headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, that the class of 2021 had achieved 211,725  distinctions, representing an increase from the 177,435 received in 2020.

In addition, quintile 1 to 3 – no-fee-paying schools – accounted for 61.8% of the 256,031 bachelor passes obtained in 2021.

The results have been described as surprising and welcomed by experts and unions, who described the achievement as pleasing given the difficulty endured by the schooling system under the Covid-19 pandemic.

Motshekga said the total number of candidates who registered for the 2021 NSC was 897,163. This was made up of 733,198 full-time pupils and 163,965 part-time candidates.

The Free State retained its top spot as the best performing province in the country after achieving 85.7%, an improvement from 85.1% in 2020. All four districts from the province made it to the top 10 best performers list.

Gauteng maintained its second spot with an 82.8% pass rate, a decline from 83.3% from the previous year.

Limpopo and the Eastern Cape continued to show improvements, recording 66.7% and 73%, respectively. 

Motshekga congratulated the matriculants, adding that they wrote under immense challenges.

“The class of 2021 had to go through the harsh realities brought about by Covid-19 in 2020, while they were in Grade 11, and faced the same harsh realities while they were going through their 2021 academic year,” she said.

Motshekga added that since the start of the pandemic, more than 3,000 teachers had died. She added that the high quality passes achieved this year, especially the number of bachelor and diploma passes, were the hallmarks of the performance of the Class of 2021. 

“The classes of 2020 and 2021 produced the best results of quality in the history of the NSC exams.  We are of the strong view that, had it not been for the Covid-19 pandemic, these two classes could have been the best performers, since the inception of the NSC exams. 

Eastern Cape education MEC Fundile Gade said the academic year had seen a strain, particularly in provinces that experienced serious backlogs.

“We have to contend with the reality that we need to do things differently this time around. There were serious threats to these examinations.

“We need to learn out of this good work, consolidate our gains always, learn from those who have come before us and always look at blind spots,” Gade said.

Teacher union Satdu’s head of secretariat Xolani Fakude said: “The Class of 2021 has been outstanding, it’s the most incredible class that dealt with two years of disruption.”

Fakude said teachers also deserve credit for covering the curriculum despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic.

“Teachers needed to be innovative and in the process sacrificed their own family time to be able to cover the curriculum, so we want to commend them as well,” Fakude said.

Basil Manuel, executive director at the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa, said they were “a  little surprised but pleased with the results given the difficulties suffered by this class”.

“Our children are much more resilient than what we give them credit for and our teachers who put in the work by even working on weekends and the parents also deserve credit as well,” Manuel said.

University of Pretoria’s dean of the faculty of education Prof Chika Sehoole said what was achieved by the Class of 2021 is surprising as they achieved a good pass rate despite the disruptions they faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The results are quite surprising as I didn’t quite expect them... the fact that these learners had so many disruptions that kept them out of the classroom, including their teachers who had comorbidities, whatever the teachers did to get this pass rate must be done going forward,” Sehoole said.

Touching on protecting both staff and pupils in schools in light of the pandemic, Motshekga concluded by encouraging parents to vaccinate learners between 12 and 17 years.

“We also encourage our educators and support staff to get the booster shots.  This is the best way we can protect our school communities from Covid-19 and its variants,” she said.