KZN pass rates: Resilience of pupils highlighted in reaching record figures

KwaZulu-Natal's Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka hailed the province's historic 90.6% pass rate in the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, celebrating the feat as a testament to the "resilience" of its pupils and educators in the face of significant challenges.

The 90.6% rate marks an improvement of over one percentage point from the 89.5% achieved in 2024, positioning KZN as the country's top-performing province and the largest contributor of matric candidates.

All 12 districts in the province achieved an over 80% pass rate, with six—uMkhanyakude, Pinetown, uMlazi, Ugu, Ilembe, and Amajuba—ranking among the top 10 nationally.

Delivering his remarks at the Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban on Tuesday, Hlomuka directly addressed the difficulties the department had encountered throughout the academic year.

"It is a province of hope because we remained hopeful in many hopeless situations that faced us in this department of education during the 2025 academic year," Hlomuka said, acknowledging deep-seated issues that often complicate academic success in the region.

The MEC highlighted that this high-quality performance emerged from some of the most under-resourced areas.

"What makes the ‘quality’ of KZN more peculiar is that this quality comes from the deep rurals of uMkhanyakude. This quality comes from the schools with depleting infrastructure in UThukela, uMzinyathi, and Amajuba Districts," he said.

He also paid tribute to the staff, acknowledging that their commitment did not falter "despite financial constraints that hindered the Department’s ability to fill several vacant posts and swiftly respond to requests for additional resources."

Premier Thami Ntuli echoed the sentiment of collective triumph in his address to the media following the ceremony.

"The population of pupils doing matric in KZN is the biggest and [we] were able to achieve the number one status despite the challenges that we are faced with," Ntuli said. He credited the success to collaboration.

"Through collaboration between teacher unions, parents, school governing bodies, and learners, the department was able to deliver the results that we are all celebrating," he said.

Speaker of the provincial legislature, Ntobeko Boyce, offered a poignant reflection on the sacrifices made by learners and teachers. She recounted stories of "principals with no paper to print [who] were able to overcome," and children who "went home with no meals prepared for them... because the only meal they will have is at school, but still, they made it possible."

Ultimately, Hlomuka framed the 90.6% result as a profound victory against adversity.

"It is a province of resilience because it is the persistence of our dedicated educators and our committed learners that brought us this joy today," he stated, adding that this generation has proven that excellence is possible in public education.

karen.singh@inl..co.za