With just two weeks to go, Minister Angie Motshekga has announced that they are expecting about 624 733 full-time candidates and 174 110 part-time candidates to sit for this year’s matric examinations at 8 000 exam centres across the country. 

While Motshekga will later this week reveal finer details about their preparations and last push initiatives for these exams, Free State MEC for Education, Tate Makgoe, has confirmed it’s all systems go in the province. Addressing thousands of learners from Bloemfontein schools last week, Makgoe encouraged all learners in the five districts of the province to use the remainder of the time to study.

He told OFM News that they have implemented a number of initiatives throughout the year to ensure that both learners and teachers are ready for end-year examinations. These included holiday study camps, ensuring that poor-performing schools are provided with adequate support from the department, and that all schools were well resourced.

He further revealed that they are expecting a 100% pass rate from the majority of schools in the province and are confident that the province will once again reclaim its number one top matric position when results are released next year on 7 January.

The province held the number one spot in the country for two consecutive years, although it slipped down to position two in 2018, achieving 87.5%, while Gauteng obtained the highest pass rate at 87.9%.

Overall, it was Gauteng that came out as top performer in 2018, followed by the Free State, then the Western Cape at 81.5%, and North West at 81.1%. These were the only four provinces to get above 80%.

OFM News