Attention editors: Please see English audio by MPP Deidré Baartman attached.
The DA in the Western Cape is overjoyed at the increase in the province’s matric pass rate, which now stands at 81.54%. Additionally, the Western Cape achieved its highest ever number of bachelors pass, with 42.2% of students qualifying for higher education entrance.
The Western Cape ranked as the province with the highest pass rates in Mathematics (75.4%) and Physics (82.2%). These results are vitally important, as these skills are some of the most necessary and in-demand in our rapidly-changing job market. These results prove that our schools are on track to produce the professionals of tomorrow.
We are also proud to note that South Africa’s top student once again hails from the Western Cape – as has been the case in six of the last seven years. Rhenish High School’s Melissa Muller ranked as the top candidate in South Africa, and also achieved the top mark in mathematics. Encouragingly, this year also represented a win for the Western Cape’s special needs education efforts, with Samkelo Gumada and Nizibone Victor Mapolisa of Athlone School for the Blind ranking first and third respectively in the country for learners with special needs.
These results are impressively impressive given the efforts of certain sectors to derail the educational project this year. 2023 began with a blockade of learners perpetrated by elements of the taxi industry, while a wide-ranging strike by those same elements resulted in critical losses of learning time. This compound the still-felt effects of the pandemic in education, which the WCED’s #BackOnTrack Program has made sterling progress in rectifying this year.
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education Deidré Baartman says: “The DA in the Western Cape congratulates the Matrics of 2023 on their hard work and sterling results. It is encouraging to see the Western Cape Education Department’s initiatives working as they should, as evidenced by the high rankings in Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Congratulations, class of 2023, and good luck to the incoming class of 2024.”