Excitement and gratitude filled the room on Tuesday (30 January), as the Western Cape Department of Education celebrated the province’s top 2023 matric achievers.
The Western Cape obtained position 5 nationally for its 81.5% matric pass rate in the 2023 National Senior Certificate exams. Education MEC David Maynier raved about how proud he is of the performance and improvement of the 2023 matric learners, considering the challenges they faced as a province.
“In 2023 we faced taxi strikes and two major floods and severe load shedding. Despite this, the Western Cape class of 2023 increased their matric pass rate,” he said.
Maynier thanked all stakeholders who were involved in making this possible. He advised the top achievers to continue working hard to achieve greater things. He said that the country doesn’t have to look far for talent, emphasizing that the future is in good hands.
Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde encouraged parents to take responsibility to teach their children how to read at an early age. He challenged the celebrants to think of how they can get more people to read and advised them to familiarize themselves with reading in order for them to be part of an innovative world. Winde highlighted that not a lot of households have books.
“The reason I am talking to business chambers about this is because those young learners that are being tested in Grade 4 are the future leaders like yourself. We have a big problem in our country that we need to solve,” he said.
Despite the challenges that the sector is faced with, Winde encouraged the top learners to celebrate their achievements.