Class of 2024 raises the bar
Hout Bay matrics have reason to celebrate this week after helping their schools achieve some of their highest ever matric results.
Hout Bay High School’s class of 2024 scored a 93.6% pass rate, up from 87% for 2023, said principal Juan Julius.
Silikamva High School scored a 94.3% pass rate, up from 93%, and Bachelor’s passes increased from 54% to 65%. It’s a far cry from the 40% pass rate the school managed for 2019.
“I am so thrilled with this year's results. The school is doing very well, and we are improving every year for the past three years,” said principal Siphathisiwe Nkala-Nkohla. “More of our learners are going to tertiary institutions, and that is what we are striving for as a school.”
Extra classes in the morning, after school, on Saturday and sometimes Sundays had helped, she said.
Silikamva’s top matriculant Lilitha Chebibokwe scored five distinctions including 95% for maths literacy and 88% for life orientation.
“I constantly studied for three hours every day after school and studied an hour on weekends,” he said. “The greatest challenge was not having somewhere to study as there is too much noise pollution in Imizamo Yethu, but after I joined the James House programme in Hout Bay; they gave me somewhere I could read and study effectively.”
He plans to study law at Stellenbosch University or UCT.
Silikamva’s second-highest achiever, Siphelele Ngubethole, scored a Bachelor’s pass and a B for English.
“When I first came here, I didn't know any English, and I was in Grade 4 so this is a big accomplishment for me. I hope to study transport and chain management at North West University,” she said.
Iminathi James scored five distinctions for Xhosa home language, English first additional language, history, life sciences and life orientation.
Nathan Robertson is Hout Bay High’s top pupil followed by Andrea Davids, according to Mr Julius.
“We had a 100% pass rate in English home language, tourism and computer application technology. We also scored 92% for mathematical literacy, 96% in history, 92% in Afrikaans home language, 80% for geography, 100% for life orientation and 92% in business studies,” he said.
Nathan studied at Hangberg library and at school to make sure he wasn’t distracted.
“I studied whenever I got the chance at home, but I found the library to be the best option. I got Bs for English first additional language, life orientation and tourism.
“My challenges were staying focused and balancing my sport, social life and family. Studying is something you need to practice,” he said.
He hopes to pursue a career in software engineering or cyber security.
Andrea said: “I’m so happy I achieved a B for my maths marks. I’m hoping to become a software developer and would like to attend Stellenbosch University.”
Thanking pupils, parents and teachers for their hard work, Mr Julius said: “I hope the community can see that we can do very well, no matter where we come from. We don’t blame disadvantages or shortages in resources.”
The achievements at the Hout Bay schools mirror an overall positive trend in the country’s matric results. The 87.3% pass rate in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams is the highest in the country’s history, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube announced on Monday.
The pass rate increased 4.4 percentage points from 82.9% in 2023. It was 80.1% in 2022 and 76.4% in 2021.
And in another first, all nine provinces scored above 84% with 47.8% of matriculants earning passes good enough for university entry.
The Western Cape scored a pass rate of 86.6%, behind top-ranked Free State with 91%, KwaZulu-Natal with 89.5%, Gauteng with 88.4% and North West with 87.5%, and ahead of Limpopo with 85%, Mpumalanga with 84.99%, Eastern Cape with 84.98% and Northern Cape with 84.2%.
Praising the class of 2024, Education MEC David Maynier said it had delivered the province’s highest NSC pass rate - a 5.1% percentage point improvement on last year.
“Thank you for the hard work that you put in to ensure you achieved your goals. You made a decision to invest in your futures, and we look forward to seeing what you will accomplish after matric.”
The Western Cape had the highest retention rate from Grade 10 to 12 in the country at 68.3%, and nearly 3 800 more provincial pupils had passed their matric exam this year compared to 2023, he said.
The province had also achieved the top maths and physical science pass rates again this year - 78% and 79.4% respectively.
