Pressure mounts for Matrics who entered high school in the pandemic

The current Matric Class of 2024 was entering high school when lockdowns struck.
It also the first class to go through the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in foundation phase.
Despite this the Department of Basic Education believes the cohort is well prepared to continue the trend of a rising pass rate in recent years.

Among the many disruptions caused by COVID-19, schooling was perhaps the most affected by the ensuing lockdowns.

Suddenly, teachers had to conduct lessons online and learners attended class in the form of Zoom calls. The education system had to do what it could to keep the scholastic wheels turning but there were constant worries about the quality of education learners received.

Now, the Matric Class of 2024 is preparing to set their final exams for the National Senior Certificate and their high school career was embedded in the pandemic. As the Deputy Director-General for Curriculum, at the Department of Basic Education (DBE), Dr. Barney Mthembu says, this class had its fair share of struggles.

“Firstly, the “Class of 2024” was in grade R in 2012, the year of implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in foundation phase. Secondly, they entered Grade 8 in 2020 at the height of COVID-19, which means their transition from Primary to Secondary school was seriously disrupted. Thirdly, their Grade 9 year (2021), which is crucial for subject selection in grade 10, was also disrupted due to COVID-19,” said Mthembu.

Thankfully, the DBE put measures in place to assist learners who were schooled during this time. Thankfully, from Grade 10 onwards this cohort of Matrics could return to classrooms and cover the subject matter they needed to.

This class of Matrics, the DBE says, also has the benefit of passing through teachers who have improved results in 2022 and 2023, motivating those teachers and learners to improve results further.

This year, 732 448 full time candidates have enrolled to write the NSC exams, 8 400 more than in 2023. KwaZulu-Natal has the largest number of Matrics registered to write the exams while Northern Cape has the fewest.

KwaZulu-Natal – 172 213 candidates,
Gauteng – 136 620 candidates,
Eastern Cape – 103 975 candidates,
Limpopo – 94 236 candidates,
Mpumalanga – 68 455 candidates,
Western Cape – 64 552 candidates,
North West – 41 840 candidates,
Free State – 37 737 candidates,
Northern Cape 13 180 candidates.

There will be 136 195 part-time candidates sitting the exams as well.

The DBE reports that 162 question papers for the 2024 exams have been set and these have been approved by Umalusi. These papers are ready to be handed over to provincial departments to be printed.

Post exam plans

The NSC examinations are set to run from 21st October through to 27th November. The department notes that these examination will take place at 6 909 centres across all nine provinces.

Come 27th November, marking will begin with 55 053 markers being employed across 188 marking centres.

Matric results for the class of 2024 will be announced on 15th January 2025 and the results will be released on 16th January 2025. The Matric Class of 2023 achieved an overall pass rate of 82.9 percent, 2.8 percentage points higher than the Class of 2022’s overall pass rate.

We don’t envy the pressure the Class of 2024 is facing and we wish them luck in the forthcoming exams.