Gwarube broadens provincial matric rankings beyond pass rates

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube says provinces will be ranked using a wider set of education measures, including learner retention and performance in key subjects, rather than focusing only on matric pass rates.

In her Sunday, 11 October briefing on examination readiness, Gwarube said the measures would include bachelor passes, distinctions and participation and results in Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Accounting and Economics.

She said the approach would help provinces compare performance and identify where intervention was needed. The assessment would consider whether learners remained in school and whether participation in gateway subjects was improving.

The department has registered 962,832 National Senior Certificate candidates: 815,051 full-time and 147,781 part-time. Gwarube described the full-time group as the largest yet, up by 48,508 from 2025.

At the same briefing, eNCA reported that Gwarube confirmed a network of about 7,100 examination centres and 189 marking centres, with 51,104 educators recruited to mark scripts.

She said the examination network had been audited, with monitoring focused on areas of risk. Question papers and other assessment material had completed departmental quality checks and received Umalusi approval, she said.

Security measures included vetting examination officials and cooperation with law-enforcement structures to protect the production and distribution of papers.

Gwarube said a 24-hour examination hotline was operating to receive reports of suspicious activity. She also said contingency arrangements covered severe weather and community disruptions, while candidate and parent pledges formed part of the department’s measures against irregularities.