‘We’re regarded as poorest province, but we made it', says Free State Education MEC after 91 percent pass rate

Despite being regarded as one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, the Free State has again for the sixth consecutive year claimed the top spot in the 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC), achieving an impressive 91% pass rate.

Education MEC Dr Julia Maboya, who was on cloud nine, expressed pride in the province’s achievement, stressing that Free State’s success comes despite major socio-economic challenges.

“We have committed ourselves to investing in our people through education, probably because we are one of the poorest,” she said.

“The only thing that we can do is to make sure that we give our children the best education,” Maboya said, beaming with pride.

Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube announced that the national pass rate for the Matric Class of 2024 had increased to 87.3% in 2024, up from 82.9% in 2023.

Gwarube said that on Monday night at Mosaiek Church, in Fairland, Johannesburg, during the announcement of the 2024 matric results.

“This is the highest matric pass rate in the history of our country and should be a moment of great pride and celebration for all of us,” she said.

It was the first time that Gwarube presented the results as education minister, after 14 years of the portfolio being held by then minister Angie Motshega. Gwarube hailed the learners for achieving exceptional results.

She said all the provinces performed better in the NSC matric results compared to previous years.

The Free State was named the best performing province with 91% in 2024, which is an increase from the 89% achieved in 2023.

The province was followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 89.5%, up from 86% in 2023, while Gauteng came second with 88.4%, up from 85.4% in 2023.

The fourth spot was taken by North West with 87.5%, the Western Cape at fifth with 86.6%, and sixth by Limpopo with 85.1%.

Other provinces, including Mpumalanga achieved 84.9%, Eastern Cape 84.9% and the Northern Cape at 84.2%, showing an impressive improvement.

In an interview with IOL News, Maboya expressed pride on the province’s performance, stating that despite being labelled as the “poorest province in the country,” Free State has worked hard to defy the expectations and prove its critics wrong.

The Free State is often regarded as one of the country’s poorest provinces, struggling with challenges such as poverty, shortage of service delivery, inadequate healthcare, poor infrastructure, high unemployment rate and low economic growth.

However, Maboya stressed that the province’s focus on education began in 2010, when a target of 90% pass rate and 40% of bachelor passes were set.

“So, 14 years down the line, we have been working very hard towards that ambition target of 90%,” she said.

With a smile lighting up her face, she added: “This is for the first time that we have hit that mark of above 90% pass rate. It has never happened.”

Although KZN is leading with bachelor passes with over 84,000, Maboya voiced excitement that the province managed to obtain 48% bachelor passes.

She described achieving an outstanding 90% pass rate as a groundbreaking achievement, which has never happened before.

“Our secret is that once we have set ourselves a target, we make sure that we bring everyone on board in terms of our strategies of achieving that target, and this is what we have successfully done.”

She stressed the importance of community involvement, especially parents, as part of the province’s strategy.

“We have brought together our community, and when we say that education is a societal matter, everyone supports us,” Maboya told IOL News.

“We made sure that we were consistent in terms of implementing those strategies, once we have done that then we are able to establish a culture of performance and accountability. We perform,” she said.

Despite the province's reputation as the “poorest” across the country, the Free State has reclaimed its place as the best-performing province in South Africa.

Maboya, together with Free State Premier Maqueen Letshoha-Mathae, are set to host a technical briefing to announce the province’s NSC results for 2024, on January 14, in the afternoon.

IOL News