Dramatic increase in number of KZN schools which achieved 100% pass rates

The number of schools to achieve a 100% pass rate in KwaZulu-Natal increased from 145 in 2021 to 212 in 2022, with the Ugu district ranking first for the third consecutive year. It had an 87.2% success rate last year.

This was revealed by KZN education MEC Mbali Frazer at the announcement of the 2022 matric results at Bethsaida Ministries International in Durban on Friday.

Frazer said the department was thrilled the province had again joined those in the 80% category, with the class of 2022 achieving a historic 83% pass rate. 

In 2021, the figure was 76.8%

Frazer said this meant of the 164,308 pupils who wrote the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams in 2022, 136,388 passed.

She said the province continued to contribute the highest number of candidates taking and passing the NSC.

"We were also able to reduce the number of schools that performed below 75% ... from 713 in 2021 to 435 in 2022," she said, adding that no school in the province achieved a 0% pass rate.

She said measures to eradicate the 40% and below performance category in the 2022 NSC would bear fruit and efforts to address it would continue.

According to the department, 11 out of 12 districts followed the guideline to achieve 80% and above.

After Ugu, the Umkhanyakude district recorded an 11% increase from 75.3% in 2021 to 86.3% last year, Amajuba achieved 85.5%, Umgungundlovu 84.1%, iLembe 83.9%, Zululand 83.7%, Umlazi 82.8%, Harry Gwala 82.5% and King Cetshwayo 81.7%. Pinetown received 80.5%, uThukela 80% and Umzinyathi 79.8%.

Frazer said the quality of results was a sign of the excellent work by district teams and educators, as well as student engagement.

"Our bachelor's degrees increased from 61,856 in 2021 to 69,849 in 2022. The number of diplomas increased from 42,128 in 2021 to 43,908 in 2022, while higher certificates decreased from 23,945 in 2021 to 22,560 in 2022.