The Makhanda matriculants of 2020 defied the odds to produce a remarkable set of results. Amid the doom, gloom and school closures of last year, most amazingly and surprisingly, they produced the best-ever city pass rate of 80%. This places the city twelve percentages points higher than the provincial average and re-establishes it as the leading education hub in the Eastern Cape. As far as individual school performance is concerned, Victoria Girls’ High School led the way with a perfect 100% pass rate, closely followed by Graeme College, PJ Olivier and Ntsika.

Not only is the pass rate outstanding, but the quality of the passes is also strong. Almost half of Makhanda’s matriculants produced Bachelor passes. Ntsika almost doubled its number of 2019 Bachelors, by recording 46 in 2020.

In response to the results, Dr Ashley Westaway applauded the efforts of all the city’s schools. “To be honest, the results surprised me on the upside, by a considerable margin. I am in awe of the efforts of the matriculants, since what we’ve come to understand from years of experience is that performance in Grade 12 comes down to the inclination and perseverance of the learners. In this regard, the Class of 2020 is in a league of its own!”

Makhanda bucked the trend in the province, whose pass rate dropped by 8% to 68.1%. The 2020 National Senior Certificate (NSC) results were released by Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, on Monday. The Class of 2020 registered an overall pass rate of 76.2%, a 5.1% drop from the record pass of 81.3% achieved by the class of 2019.

At Kutliso Daniels, P:rincipal Radio Mcuba (left) and school clerk Siyabulela Maqungo assist a 2020 matriculant collecting her results on Tuesday 23 February. Photo: Sue Maclennan

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