Non-governmental organisation AfriForum has urged Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube to also announce provincial throughput percentages from Grade 10 to Grade 12.

The organisation has written to Gwarube, requesting that her department also publish the percentage of learners per province who left school between Grade 10 and Grade 12 before the start of the matric examination, along with the provincial matric pass rates.

Gwarube announced the 2024 matric results, with a historic pass rate of 87.3%, in Johannesburg, on Monday evening. 

“It is interesting to compare the matric pass rates of provinces with each other, but when this excludes the throughput rate, it does not paint a true picture of the actual performance of provinces. This also results in the public not having clarity about which provinces are still experiencing serious education challenges,” said AfriForum head of cultural affairs Alana Bailey.

Bailey noted that the official announcements of the pass rates on Monday night devoted much time to the difference between the department’s definition of the matric pass rate and the throughput rate.

“…the reality, however, is that every learner who is not adequately schooled, faces a bleak future,” she said.

She highlighted that South Africa already faces an unacceptably high youth unemployment rate, pointing to the country’s educational quality, which she said did not compare with that of other countries when looking at the findings of the most recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the 2024 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.

“That the department considers a 64% throughput rate as reassuringly comparable to that of other countries, is a cause for concern.

“The country’s economic growth and social stability depend on both the matric pass rate and the throughput rate. Announcements that present the national and provincial percentages of both rates together will create much more clarity about the obstacles we are still facing in education,” she said.