Class of 2020 produce excellent results against all odds
25 February 2021
The Western Cape’s matric pass rate of 79.9% was a collective effort and revealed the hard work in the background to ensure that learners succeed in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams.
“I would like to congratulate all our learners, principals, teachers and parents who successfully passed their NSC or contributed towards this achievement. We were always unsure as to what the impact would be on our matriculants and their performance in the National Senior Certificate and from an education perspective the results are, in many ways, something to celebrate. While there was a lot of attention drawn to the disruptive elements of Covid-19 on our system, the results reflect that behind the scenes, our teachers were working hard to ensure that our learners achieved their best results,” said Brian Schreuder, Head of the Western Cape Education Department.
Schreuder and Western Cape Education Minister Debbie Schäfer said they were pleased that while the pass rate declined by 2.4% compared to 2019, it was the lowest decline in the country. The province also achieved the highest Bachelor Pass rate ever.
Schreuder acknowledged the resilience, fortitude and dedication of principals and teachers who returned to schools with a clear purpose to ensure quality teaching even in times of uncertainty and fear.
Schäfer celebrated the announcement of the pass rate with top achievers who were recognised by the Department of Basic Education and joined the matrics of Elswood Sekondêr in Elsies River when candidates received their results from their schools. She congratulated the principal and staff for improving the school’s pass rate by 28.4% to 83.8% during a pandemic.
The WCED will celebrate the province’s top-achieving learners and schools in the 2020 NSC on 9 March 2021.
For more information about the province’s results, visit:
https://wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/news/western-cape-matrics-achieve-despite-challenges-covid-19