The Gauteng Department of Education celebrated its 85.5% matric pass rate, positioning them third place in the overall matric provincial performance for 2023.
Promoting collective effort to achieve quality education, the Gauteng Education MEC, Matome Chiloane said that the matric results achievement was made possible by team work.
“It is only significant to recognise that our success is due to our collective commitment to grow Gauteng together,” he said.
Chiloane applauded the award recipients and all the learners of matric for defeating all the academic distress caused by the pandemic. He acknowledged that disruptions caused by the pandemic added more pressure to the class of 2023.
“There can be no denying that the pandemic continued to impact the education system. The class of 2023 began their Grade 12 year with high expectations. Despite the negative impact on teaching and learning, innovative measures had been developed and used to show the readiness of the class of 2023,” he added.
Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi thanked the teachers for the exceptional job they did. He included the parents and district directors. Lesufi promised to reward districts who managed to obtain a 90% pass rate.
“The results we have achieved here are not our results. I want to our teachers. All District Directors who obtained 90% will receive their performance bonus,” he said.
Although he is pleased with the overall performance of the province, he stated that there is room for improvement. Lesufi congratulated other provinces for their performance and improvement.
Overwhelmed with mixed emotions, the top overall performing matric learner in Gauteng, Sheliza De Wet, said that she was not expecting to be awarded such a prestigious award. De Wet added that her next step will be studying medicine.
“I am overwhelmed, I did not think I would receive such an award. My next step from here will be studying to become a doctor,” she said.
She encouraged the class of 2024 to enjoy every moment of their matric year and remember to study hard.
Mathematics top achiever, Ofentse Khwele encouraged learners to try and give maths a chance. He said that this achievement is an honor and opportunity that is given to only a few people. Khwele said that he does not believe that the is a difficult subject and urged learners to not listen to negative talks about Mathematics.
“I am happy to be one of the few people that are invited here. I am happy with my achievement. You have to believe in yourself and encourage yourself, you always have to tell yourself that you can do it,” he concluded.