Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga announced that the matric pass rate for 2016 was 72.5%, up from 70.7% in 2015.
Candidates can get their individual results on 5 January from their school or the centre where they wrote their exams, major newspapers, local websites, and SMS and USSD services.
Over 50% of learners passed with the required standard to enable them to access higher education, said the department’s Dr Rufus Poliah.
More than 108,000 “progressed learners” had a significant impact on the National Senior Certificate pass rate.
Weaker progressed learners – who are over age or have repeated grade 11 more than once – are pushed through to matric, who then potentially bring down the pass rate when writing the final exams.
Excluding progressed learners, the matric 2016 pass rate was 76.2%.

Maths and science

TimesLive reported that in physical science, 3.7% of pupils who wrote – 7,043 learners – received a distinction.
In maths‚ 3% – 8,070 learners – who wrote received a distinction.
The performance of provinces in terms of their matric pass rates is as follows (excluding progressed learners):
  • Eastern Cape – 63.3%
  • Limpopo – 68.2%
  • KZN – 69.5%
  • Mpumalanga – 81.3%
  • Northern Cape – 82.2%
  • North West – 86.2%
  • Gauteng – 87%
  • Western Cape – 87.7%
  • Free State – 93.2%