The Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, released the complete results of the 2004 senior certificate exam today.

Minister Pandor said: "The first ten years of democracy in South Africa have seen not only a steady improvement in the management and administration of the Grade 12 examinations but also an improvement in the overall performance of learners".

The national pass rate was 70.7%. This is lower than the pass rate of 2003 and we will strive hard to improve the pass rate in all schools in 2005.

Minister Pandor said: "As we move beyond the 70% level of achievement, we expect to improve in the quality of learner attainment and learner participation in gateway subjects such as Mathematics, Science and Technology".

She spoke of "the success of our interventions in dealing with those schools whose pass rate fell below 20%". There has been a reduction in the number of under-20% schools from 1034 in 1999 to 183 in 2004.

The future goal on pass-rate performance has been lifted to 50%.

Minister Pandor said: "As from this year 2005 we will lift our benchmark to ensure that no province has a school that performs below 50%. Our challenge for the future is to ensure that the distribution of achievement and the quality of performance mirror the equitable distribution of inputs through the improved effectiveness and efficiency of the translation of resources into educational outcomes."

The Minister further said: "The improving learner attainment year after year indicates growing systemic stability as a result of inputs made by the democratic government of South Africa in education over the last ten years".

Numbers who wrote

493 447 candidates enrolled for 2004 Senior Certificate Examinations compared to the 457 147 candidates enrolled for 2003 Examinations. This means that 36 300 more candidates registered for the 2004 examinations than in 2003.

Out of a total of 493 447 candidates who registered for six or more subjects, about 471 080 finally wrote the examination. This means that (22 367) of candidates enrolled did not write the examination.

National pass rate

The pass rate for the nine provinces in the 2004 Senior Certificate Examination was 70.7%.

Provincial pass rate

The pass rate in 6 provinces was above 70%, and in five provinces (Northern Cape, Western Cape, Free State, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal) the pass rate was above 74.0%.

University Endorsements

Out of 471 080 candidates who wrote the senior certificate exam 85 117 (18.2%) were awarded exemptions. In 2003 there were 82 010 candidates who were awarded university endorsements. Thus in 2004 just over 3000 more candidates were awarded endorsements than in 2003.

Under-50% schools

The success of our interventions in improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools has reduced the number of schools with a pass rate of under 20% from 1034 in 1999 to 183 in 2004.

Moreover, there are now more schools performing above the 50% pass rate than ever before. Only 1 463 out of 6 140 schools returned results below 50%.

As from this year we will lift our benchmark to ensure that no province has a school that performs below 50%. Our challenge for the future is to ensure that the distribution of achievement and the quality of performance mirrors the equitable distribution of resources.

Subject results

There were 24 143 candidates with passes in Maths HG and 26 975 with passes in Physical Science HG. These were improvements on the 2003 results of 23 412 in Maths and 26 067 in Physical Science.

Pass rate in the six national question papers, according to grade,
per subject in the Senior Certificate in 2003 and 2004:

Subject	Grade	2003	Candidates 2003	2004	Candidates 2004
Accounting	HG	84.6%	25 880	85.8%	27 055
	SG	93.5%	95 445	89.4%	97 420
Biology	HG	72.4%	44 225	68.4%	42 496
	SG	73.8%	124 432	73.0%	128 441
English 2nd Language	HG	96.5%	295 165	92.3%	279 665
	SG	96.9%	81 056	95.5%	74 780
History	HG	87.7%	18 368	78.6%	18 556
	SG	84.6%	49 885	81.7%	48 759
Mathematics	HG	79.8%	23 412	75.3%	24 143
	SG	55.4%	104 707	53.7%	109 664
Physical Science	HG	76.8%	26 067	74.2%	26 975
	SG	82.2%	75 693	74.1%	73 943

By 2006 11 subjects will be written nationally. These will include Geography, Economics, Business Economics, Agriculture, and Afrikaans Second Language in addition to nationally examined subjects such as Mathematics, Physical Science, Biology, English Second Language, Accounting and History. This will strengthen the national examination system and enforce higher standards across all provinces as more than 90% of all Grade 12 learners are registered in the above 11 subjects.

Enquiries: Tandi Mapukata  tel. 082 453 1757  or  012 312 5056,  e-mail: mapukata.t@doe.gov.za