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Matric class of 2024 sets new national record with historic pass rate
Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube said nearly half of the learners who wrote the NSC examinations received a Bachelor's pass.
“This represents 47.8% of candidates qualifying for admission to Bachelor studies, a significant improvement from last year’s 40.9%, and the highest number of Bachelor passes in recent history,” said Gwarube.
“This is a 6.9% increase from last year. In 2014, we produced 150,752 Bachelor passes. In just a decade this number has more than doubled in 2024 to 337,158 Bachelor passes.
“It is also encouraging to see that some of our provinces with the highest numbers of learners are achieving high numbers of Bachelor passes.
“In 2024, I am pleased to announce that KwaZulu Natal achieved the highest number of Bachelor passes with 84,470, followed by Gauteng with 66,979 and the Eastern Cape with 45,662,” the minister said.
Top achieving provinces
The Free State is the province with the highest matric pass rate for 2024 with 91%. KwaZulu-Natal follows with 89.5% and Gauteng is slightly behind with 88.4%.
In fourth place is the North West 87.5%. The Western Cape achieved an 86.6% overall pass rate, along with the top mathematics pass rate of 78.0% and the top physical science pass rate of 79.4% this year.
Limpopo is in sixth place with an 85.0% pass rate. Mpumalanga followed with 84.9%, and the Eastern Cape is in the eight spot with 84.8%. The Northern Cape is last on the list with a pass rate of 84.2%.
Distinctions
Matric 2024 also achieved 319,651 distinctions, which is an increase of 65,000 distinctions from 2023. Minister Gwarube said some of the increases are in key subjects such as maths and that every province increased their number of distinctions.
“KwaZulu Natal was once more the top performing province in terms of the percentage of candidates obtaining distinctions, with 10.8% distinction potential achieved.
“Coming in second with 6.3% of distinction potential achieved was the Western Cape, followed by Gauteng with 5.3%. Notable progress was made by Mpumalanga and Limpopo in this regard where we saw this percentage increase by over 1% in 2024 when compared to the results for 2023,” said Gwarube.
Western Cape
David Maynier, minister of Education Western Cape, said the province has the highest retention rate from Grade 10 to 12 in the country at 68.3%, and nearly 3,800 more Western Cape learners passed their matric exam this year compared to 2023.
"We are also delighted that our candidates have once again shone on the national stage, with four Western Cape matrics receiving awards this evening including the top candidate in the country," he said.
Top candidate in South Africa:
Rayyan Ebrahim – Pinelands High School
Top candidate in Quintile 5:
- First place: Rayyan Ebrahim – Pinelands High School
- Second place: Matthew Christopher Wise – Pinelands High School
- Third place: Nicholas David Schreiber – Rondebosch Boys' High School