It has been a proud week for Rondebosch Boys’ High School as two of their matriculants were named among the top achievers in the country when the 2019 National Senior Certificate results were announced.
The school’s Gary Allen achieved second place while Timothy Murphy was the top mathematics candidate.
Education MEC Debbie Schafer said the province’s pass rate had increased slightly from 81.5% in 2018 to 82.3% in 2019.
“I am very pleased with the performance of the Western Cape, especially given the difficulties that we are facing as a result of inadequate funding and safety concerns. I would like to congratulate all our pupils, teachers and administrative staff, who have put in an immense effort.”
The percentage of Bachelor’s passes in the province had also increased, with 21 981 candidates achieving a Bachelor’s pass, which totalled 43.6% of candidates, compared to 42.3% last year.
Ms Schafer said the province’s pupils also achieved the highest percentage of distinctions in the country.
The province boasts the top three pupils in the country with Madelein Dippenaar from Paarl Gimnasium High School coming first and Anuoluwa Makinde from Milnerton High School in third place.
The national results were announced by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga in Midrand on Tuesday January 7 and showed a 3.1% increase from 78.2% in 2018 to 81.3%.
The minister said the matric class made history by achieving a pass rate of over 80%.
A total of 788 383 candidates wrote the National Senior Certificate exam.
The Free State was the top performing province with an 88.4% pass rate, followed by North West with 86.8% and the Western Cape with 82.3%.
DA provincial spokesperson on education, Lorraine Botha congratulated the class of 2019 but urged those who were unsuccessful to make use of opportunities provided by the Department of Education to remark and/or rewrite their examinations and not to become discouraged or despondent.
“This should only be regarded as a second chance and an opportunity for improvement. Not achieving one’s National Senior Certificate the first time round, does not have to hamper one’s future entirely.”
South African Democratic Teachers Union provincial secretary Jonavon Rustin wished the candidates well with their future endeavours but also encouraged unsuccessful candidates to make use of the options available to them. “This is the start of an exciting post matric phase in your life, grab all the opportunities available to you. We want to encourage all pupils who are not satisfied with their examination outcome, not to despair, but to use all available options to achieve their desired goals.”
The closing date to apply for re-marking is Monday January 13. Results from re-marking will be released on Thursday February 6.