With the overall pass rate climbing from 72.5% in 2016 to 75.1% in 2017, the President has noted the consistently improving pass rate since the dawn of freedom and democracy in the country

PRETORIA, South Africa, January 5, 2018/ -- President Jacob Zuma has today (04 January 2018), congratulated all the matriculants who sat through their National Senior Certificates examinations in 2017, whose results were released by the Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga today. 

With the overall pass rate climbing from 72.5% in 2016 to 75.1% in 2017, the President has noted the consistently improving pass rate since the dawn of freedom and democracy in the country.

“We welcome the fact that the pass rate has consistently improved since the democratic dispensation, especially since the reconfiguration of Education into two separate departments namely Basic Education on one hand and Higher Education and Training on the other hand. This reaffirms Government’s focus on education as an apex priority and the greatest enabler of the society as well as a key aspect of our programme of Radical Socio-Economic Transformation,” said President Zuma.

President Zuma further encouraged those who did not achieve a university pass and those who failed never to lose hope, adding that there was a wide choice of other opportunities.

“We encourage those who did not pass that there are still plenty opportunities to be explored to fulfil their dreams. We wish to remind our matriculants of the many opportunities provided by Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs) colleges and other vocational training centres across the country. The learners still have an extra opportunity to better their results in their second attempt during supplementary examinations to take place at many matric rewrite centres. They should use this setback as an opportunity to reflect and improve,” said the President.

President Zuma has also called on parents, teachers, friends and relatives to provide the necessary support to all the Class of 2017 matriculants.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Presidency.