Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said the matric pass rate should no longer be the only way to judge how provinces perform in education.
She spoke to the media in Pretoria on Sunday. Gwarube said the push for the highest National Senior Certificate (NSC) pass rate had led to harmful habits in the school system.
“This obsession has had unintended consequences and has incentivised the wrong kind of behaviour,” she said, according to SAnews.
According to the Minister, provinces, districts and schools had become very focused on raising their pass rates. She said this sometimes came at the cost of building the skills South Africa needs.
Gwarube said some schools stopped weaker learners from moving up to Grade 12. She said others kept learners in Grade 11 when the rules said they should be progressed.
She added that some learners were pushed to take Mathematical Literacy instead of Mathematics. This was done to make it more likely that they would pass.
The Minister warned that this could hold back skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She said Accounting and Economic Sciences could also suffer.
“This must change; if our country is to be economically competitive, it needs deep and meaningful skills in STEM and other gateway subjects,” she said.
The Department of Basic Education said it plans to judge provinces using a wider set of quality measures. These will include Bachelor passes, distinctions and how many learners stay in school.
The department said it will also look at how many learners take subjects such as Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Accounting and Economics, and how well they do in them.
Gwarube said this would help provinces compare their results in a more useful way. She said it would also show where help is needed.
“The question should not only be whether learners passed, but whether provinces are improving literacy, numeracy, retention and subject participation,” Gwarube said.
Her comments came as the department said it was ready for the 2026 NSC exams. A total of 962 832 candidates have registered for the October and November exams.
Of these, 815 051 are full-time candidates and 147 781 are part-time candidates. Gwarube said the rise in full-time entries showed more learners were staying in school and finishing matric on time.
The department said it ran learner support programmes in all 75 education districts. These reached 159 180 learners at 1 262 centres.
According to the department, the support included extra revision, help for teachers, mock exams and access to learning materials.
Gwarube said the department also took into account how COVID-19 affected the Class of 2026. Their schooling was disrupted as they moved from the Intermediate Phase to the Senior Phase.
The department said it used reports from past exams to find learning problems that keep coming back. These reports were used to guide teachers in preparing learners.
The 2026 NSC exams begin on Tuesday. The department said preparations are complete in all nine provinces.
Source: this article is based on reporting by SAnews.gov.za. Image: GCIS via SAnews.gov.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.