Durban: KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education’s academic improvement plan is yielding dividends as it was not only the most improved province in the country in terms of matric results, but also had the most improved district nationally, uMkhanyakude district in the far north of the province.
KZN Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli and Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka reflected on the province’s historic 89.5% matric pass rate at an awards ceremony to celebrate top achievers at the Durban ICC yesterday.
Hlomuka said of the 16 1962 pupils who wrote the 2024 National Senior Certificate Exam, 144 990 of them passed.
“The number of our schools that obtained 100% pass rate also increased significantly from 246 in 2023 to 321 in 2024. We were also able to reduce the number of schools that performed below 75% from 288 in 2023 to 182 in 2024.”
“Our interventions to eradicate the 40% and below category of performance in the 2024 National Senior Certificate exams are yielding results and we will continue to put more efforts towards addressing this bracket.”
He said all 12 education districts performed above 80%.
◆ uMkhanyakude retained its top spot for the second year with a 92.8% pass rate
◆ Ugu got 91.7%
◆ Amajuba and Umlazi had 89.8%
◆ Ilembe and Zululand had 89.5%
◆ Pinetown got 89.4%
◆ Umgungundlovu got 89.3%
◆ Umzinyathi achieved 89.1%
◆ Harry Gwala got 88.9%
◆ King Cetshwayo got 88.6%
◆ Uthukela got 85.0%
Hlomuka said the quality of the results was indicative of the sterling work of district teams and teachers as well as the dedication of pupils to their academic work.
“Our bachelor passes have increased from 72 099 in 2023 to 84 470 in 2024. The number of diplomas passes decreased from 43 769 in 2023 to 42 830 in 2024. The number of higher certificates also decreased from 20435 in 2023 to 17 609 in 2024.
“Our aim as the department is to see more of our candidates getting bachelor passes because we want them to be in a better position to further their studies post matric level.”
He said while there was an increase in passes in the gateway subjects, the department wanted to see an improvement in English First Additional Language, Maths and all science subjects.
Ntuli said the great performance of the 2024 matric class reflected the collective effort of the provincial government and communities that support the schools and pupils especially as they take on study programmes after school, over the weekends and holidays.
“I thank all the MECs for playing their different roles in supporting these outstanding results. In 2023 there were 18 schools that performed below 40%, and this year that number has decreased to 10 only. Not a single school achieved 0% in NSC 2024 in KwaZulu-Natal.”
Asked about what strategies were put in place to improve matric results, Department of Education spokesperson, Muzi Mahlambi, said the department had developed a solid academic improvement plan designed to ensure that the quality of education remains consistent, irrespective of where the pupils are located.
He said this initiative is why there has been noticeable improvement in some rural districts.
“You can look at the schools that we are building; all of them, even those in rural areas, are of very high quality. In uMkhanyakude, there is a school called Manda Mthethwa, which is among the best and is attracting students from all over. The boot camps are also helping; we spend two weeks assisting pupils who would otherwise have struggled, focusing solely on their studies during this time without distractions from household chores.
“As part of our academic improvement plan, we analyse our results to identify the challenges that affect pupil performance and determine how we can address these issues. After reviewing the results we have just received, we will sit down and analyse them further to see how we can improve even more,” Mahlambi said.
Nomarashiya Caluza, provincial secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) in KZN said that all districts had done well with uMkhanyakude taking position one in the province.
“There is history to this performance of uMkhanyakude as 10-15 years ago uMkhanyakude (Obonjeni as it was at that time) was right at the bottom and was known as a failing district.
“It is around and after that time that Sadtu started a programme working with Moses Kotane Institute – the Sadtu Matric Intervention programme. This laid a foundation for what we are celebrating today. The programme focused on assisting teachers. The district under Mr Motha, the former provincial deputy secretary of Sadtu witnessed a progressive change where everyone got focused on the core business. It is because of his leadership and understanding of working together that everyone in the district knows what must be done. The close working relationship with the community leaders is also assisting the district.”