Schools which wrote the 2020 Independent Examinations Board's (IEB) National Senior Certificate exams scored an overall pass rate of 98.07%.
This is slightly lower than the previous year's pass rate of 98.82%.
The pass rate was obtained by 12 024 full-time and 1 139 part-time candidates from 233 examination centres at 261 venues across Southern Africa. In 2019, there were 11 818 full-time candidates and 779 part-time candidates.
Of the candidates who passed, 88.42% (compared to 89.51% in 2019) achieved entry to degree study, 8.14% (compared to 7.91% in 2019) qualified for entry to diploma study, and 1.51% (compared to 1.4% in 2019) achieved entry for study at a higher certificate level.
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"While not immediately clear in the numbers, the impact of Covid-19 on the schooling population saw several learners withdraw from the year and postpone completion of Grade 12 until 2021," Anne Oberholzer, chief of the IEB, said in a statement.
Some schools also saw a number of pupils leave to join distance and online education providers. There was also an increase in the number of children who were homeschooled, Oberholzer added.
"The excellent performance of the Class of 2020 under very difficult circumstances underscores the importance of the years of good, solid teaching and learning prior to the Grade 12 year. These achievements are proof that the Grade 12 year on its own does not provide the understanding, perseverance and resilience needed to achieve excellent results in the matric year, but that [it] is the culmination of work and learning over 12 or 13 years of quality schooling," she added.
SOURCE: NEWS24
