Tebogo Msimanga |
The Democratic Alliance (DA) congratulated the class of 2022 matriculants on passing their matric examinations. While the DA disputes the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) pass rate of 80.1%, opposition party reiterated that it is very proud of every matriculant that successfully graduated.
DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education Baxolile Nodada said the real 2022 matric pass rate is only 54.6%, an increase from 2021’s 50.4%. This is very concerning.
“Every year the DA calculates the real matric pass rate by bringing into account the number of learners that dropped out and never made it to matric. The dropout rate for the 2022 matric class is 31.8 % (337 364 learner)”.
Nodada said considering that the pass mark in some subjects is as low as 30%, only 38.4 % of matrics achieved a Bachelor’s degree pass – a shockingly low number when compared to the Independent Examination Board (IEB) Bachelor’s degree passes of 89.32%. “In fact, all IEB candidates who passed (98.42%) qualified for entry to tertiary education”.
Nodaba added that South Africa desperately needs more teachers that specialise in the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
