Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Education is the key to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness, and to fostering peace.”

It is now 30 years since Mandela was set free in 1992 and thereby ushered in a new democratic dispensation in South Africa. After nearly three decades of democracy, it is necessary to stop and ask ourselves if the education system is indeed the empowerment instrument that Mandela envisaged 30 years ago. In the process, it is necessary to ask pressing questions that everyone involved in education in South Africa should answer honestly and sincerely.

Questions like: why is there still a big difference between the results of the independent schools (IEB) and that of state schools? Why is there still a huge gap between rich and poor schools? Why must learners in our townships and in rural areas still climb so many mountains and cross rivers (literally and figuratively) just to meet the basic requirements of going to school? Does our education system effectively address the poverty problem and gender inequality in our country?

Enormous challenges

My instinctive response is NO.

The persistent inequality in schools, with the accompanying poverty and violence with which learners in government schools must cope, is the main reason why one-third of learners who started their school careers in 2011 did not make it to the final exams. Few of the current matric class thought they would face challenging conditions during their 12 years at school before they could start writing the matric exam. This class had to keep up with:

• The Covid-19 pandemic, the class which was the hardest hit;
• The enormous challenges of rolling blackouts;
• Lack of service delivery owing to the above-mentioned challenges;
• Forced curriculum changes to catch up on the huge backlog after Covid-19;
• Unusual school hours owing to the controversial rotation system;
• Adapting to a new teaching pedagogy which changed overnight from face-to-face tuition to online classes for which most schools were not nearly ready; and
• The sudden death of loved ones.

Against this background the pass rate of 80.1% (4% better than last year’s 76%) is laudable.

Let us not take away from the brilliant performance of the class of 2022; What these 775,630 matrics achieved is close to a pedagogic miracle. They, and their parents and teachers, deserve all the accolades coming their way.

Gender equality

Moreover, it is appropriate that the two top achievers in the country are girls: So hats off to the 17-year-old Husnaa Haffejee of the Al-Falaah College in Durban and Kelly Prowse of Rustenburg Girls’ High in Cape Town who were designated the top matriculants in South Africa in 2022.

In a time when gender equality has still not been reached and 91,000 girls had to struggle through teen pregnancies (many of them owing to statutory rape) the achievement of these two bright girls is a fitting indication that the tide is beginning to turn.

The tendency is also visible if you compare the number of girls and boys who wrote the matric exam: A total of 422,477 (56.2%) girls wrote the exam compared to 329,526 (43.8%) boys. For some or other reason the system succeeds in getting more girls through the system. Maybe that is just a sign of the emancipation of schoolgirls who realise that matric is their only chance to escape gender inequality — a trend we see at university level as well.

Best age

A closer analysis of the results indicates an interesting phenomenon regarding the ideal age of school-going children. By far the most learners in matric are 18 years old, i.e. they were seven years old when they went to school. The second most (but much fewer) learners are 19 in matric (and for educational reasons were probably held back for one year) with 17-year-olds (i.e. those who went to school at age six) in third place; certainly something for future parents to keep in mind.

This brings another controversial aspect to the fore: namely learners who were promoted albeit they failed grade 11. Only in North West was there a significant increase (1,776) of learners who were put through and in the Free State there were 34 learners. In all the other provinces there was a decrease in progressed learners: an indication that the country is progressing with the standardisation of the quality of the results.

The pass rate of learners who were put through compares well with the rest. In the Free State, KZN and Mpumalanga more than 50% of these learners passed which means that many learners made use of the second chance.

Throughput rate

Education is a complex aspect, and progress, or the lack thereof, is much more than just the total pass rate. One of these aspects is the throughput rate. Therefore, it is important to first look at the province’s throughput rate to judge the achievements of the provinces.

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What these figures show is that the pass rate of the Free State for the past three years has been overshadowed by the province’s poor throughput rate. Warning lights are starting to flash. Thorough analysis of the grade 11 results is required before definite assumptions can be made, but a dropout rate of 42% (the highest in SA) posed a few question marks behind the Free State’s good pass rate.

The most gratifying aspect is the achievement of KZN that — so it would seem — survived the floods and rose above it. To finish third and beat the Western Cape in the process, is admirable.

Speaking of the Western Cape: the province has shown a slight improvement but has again dropped one place in the ranking. This should be reason for concern, especially since the province prides itself on promoting mother-tongue instruction.

Although many so-called “coloured” schools did very well, like my old school, Kylemore High in Stellenbosch which achieved a pass rate of 95%, a thorough investigation into the poor performance of these schools (of which most receive mother tongue instruction) is required. These schools are seriously lagging behind.

The figures also show significant movement in mother-tongue instruction. While nobody can deny how well Afrikaans schools fare, it is alarming that the number of matriculants who offer Afrikaans as mother tongue has constantly decreased over the past five years.

Afrikaans (48,341)  is now the sixth biggest language at school after IsiZulu (188,984), English (129,267), isiXhosa (112,647), Sepedi (88,248) and Sesotho (61,863). It is significant that English has shown the greatest increase by 5,243 and Zulu the greatest decrease (- 3,572); an indication that society is becoming more and more English-orientated.

The quality of the results

It is necessary to comment on the quality of the results. I really value the work that Umalusi does. These results have been certified as valid and accurate. As a result, each matriculant knows that his or her matric certificate is worth the piece of paper on which it is printed.

A good indication of quality is the number of matrics who obtain a Bachelor’s pass. The number has been constantly increasing since 2015 (when it was 25%) to 36.4% in 2021 and 38.4% in 2022; 22,783 more matrics now achieved a university pass.

Of great importance is the rise in the quality of the pass rate in quintile 1 to 3 schools (the so-called no-fee schools, that is the poorest schools in our country). More and more quintile 1 (1,814 schools), quintile 2 (1,670 schools) and quintile 3 (1,472 schools) achieved pass rates of between 80% and 100%.

Furthermore, the university passes of quintile 1 schools (52,000) and quintile 3 (54,000) compare very well with the quintile 5 schools (60,551). As far as the number of distinctions is concerned, the Western Cape is head and shoulders above the others with 6.2% matrics achieving distinctions compared to the Free State’s 3.3%, Gauteng’s 4.5% and KZN’s 6%.

Technical subjects

It is gratifying that the number of matrics taking technical subjects has increased significantly. This is exactly what our country needs in the 21st century. These subjects will not just give our country’s skills levels a boost, but also offer a shortcut to jobs which in these days of increasing youth unemployment hangs like a sword over the heads of the matrics.

Summary

There will always be questions about why the pass rate of independent schools (IEB) (at 98.4%) is as much as 18% higher than at state schools. Despite the obvious differences in resources and facilities, there are many factors that play a role here.

It would be unfair to diminish the achievements of the independent school by focusing on the fact that they find themselves in an advantaged position. Despite the number of resources a school has, you still need dedicated staff and management to ensure that the resources are used correctly. These schools definitely deserve praise.

On the other hand, it is an open question whether the Department of Basic Education has succeeded in effectively addressing the lack of basic facilities, the overly full classrooms which lead to disciplinary problems and the lack of leadership.

There are many state schools which have few resources at their disposal that rise above these conditions and offer effective tuition to their learners. The role that the parents play in these schools is crucial to the success of these schools.

Whatever the situation, the days that schools, governments and individuals could blame apartheid, are over. If the class of 2022 could, despite the setbacks and challenges discussed in this article, still achieve a pass rate of 80.1%, it speaks volumes about the new generation’s will to excel, the dedication of their teachers and the visionary leadership of their governing bodies.

In closing, a message to business people and large businesses: it is time that you start to invest in the potential of our children who are often trapped in schools under poor leadership. The class of 2022 was an example to many politicians who still revert to the apartheid rhetoric of the past.

It is time that those who still search for excuses to hide their own inability and defective work ethics do introspection, and take a page from the handbook of the class of 2022. DM