Celebrations erupted at the Joe Slovo Secondary School in Khayelitsha yesterday, as it was announced that the school achieved a 99,3% Matric pass rate for 2024, after obtaining a 37% pass rate in 2021.

Dubbed Cape Town’s most improved school, Joe Slovo’s Principal, teachers, the Class of 2024 and the new Grade 12 cohort for 2025, gathered at the school premises, where joyful scenes erupted as the school’s amazing turn-around became clear.

Education MEC David Maynier, speaking to a packed school hall, said as soon as he saw how well Joe Slovo had performed, he knew he would be visiting the school to celebrate with them.

Joe Slovo’s path to success became evident in 2023, when it achieved a pass rate of 87.2%.

Not to be outdone, the Class of 2024 set themselves a challenge to improve on this, and loud cheers erupted as it was announced that the pass rate now stands at an incredible 99.3% – an increase of 12.1 percentage points and their highest pass rate since the National Senior Certificate was introduced in 2008.

It was not just the pass rate that showed such a dramatic improvement. Joe Slovo’s bachelors pass rate more than doubled, from 25.1% in 2023 to 56.2% in 2024.

In addition, the #ClassOf2024 achieved 41 subject distinctions, 6 distinctions for Mathematics (including 2 candidates with over 90% for Mathematics), and 3 distinctions for Physical Science.

The school’s Mathematics pass rate increased to 96.0%, from 56.5% in 2023. The Physical Science pass rate increased to 85.2%, from 56.2% in 2023.

Joe Slovo Secondary School principal Sithyilelo Ntamo expressed his pride in his learners:

“Our school was one of the schools in Khayelitsha that have been battling to produce good results. Through the dedication and resilience of our educators we have managed to take the school from the rock bottom of the table to a better position. As a school we have done everything we were supposed to do in making sure that our learners are getting good quality results. The 2024 learners have proved to us throughout the year that they will give us good results and they did not disappoint us.”

 

Maynier has credited Ntamo and the Director of the Metro-East Education District, Landie Diamond, for the school’s success and that of all other High Schools in the region. The Metro-East district came out tops in the Metro for the Matric pass rate, and second in the province, after languishing in last place for several years prior.

“Gone are the days when Metro East held the bottom spot on the district log. They have gone from strength to strength, and this year have improved their pass rate again, by 4.98 percentage points to 88.50%. This is again the highest pass rate the district has achieved in the NSC to date. Congratulations to Director Landie Diamond and her team as they continue to drive improvement in the district.”

Overall, Khayelitsha schools have shown remarkable improvement.

In 2009, just 50.5% of Khayelitsha candidates passed matric, and only 9.3% achieved a bachelors pass.

Maynier says through many years of hard work by school staff and learners, and support from the Metro East Education District, these schools have improved in leaps and bounds.

In 2024, 87.6% of the candidates at schools in Khayelitsha passed their matric, with a bachelors pass rate of 47.8%.

Joe Slovo Principal Ntamo also credited his teachers, and all the support staff, including security and kitchen staff for creating an environment conducive to learning.

He says his teachers came up with many innovative ideas to improve learning, while security at the gates kept learners safe, and cooks kept their tummies full so they could concentrate.

The teachers were certainly not holding back and expressed their joy at the school’s success through dance.

District performance

On a provincial level, the Eden and Central Karoo Education District came out as the top performing district, with a pass rate of 89.28% – an increase of 4.69 percentage points from 2023.

Every district in the Western Cape improved their pass rate, and every district now has a pass rate above 80% for the first time since 2016:

• Metro North Education District – 88.46% (+3.06)
• Overberg Education District – 88.21% (+4.33)
• Metro Central Education District – 84.20% (+3.31)
• West Coast Education District – 84.19% (+6.50)
• Metro South Education District – 83.83% (+5.94)
• Cape Winelands Education District – 83.44% (+8.83)

Maynier adds there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of schools achieving a pass rate of below 60%, which is considered to be “underperforming”.

In 2023, 29 schools were underperforming, and in 2024, there were just 5 schools that did not achieve a pass rate higher than 60%.

Quintile results

• The Western Cape’s no-fee schools showed an increased pass rate and bachelors pass rate. Every quintile now has a pass rate of over 80%.
• Quintile 1 schools increased their pass rate by 9.2 percentage points to 81.2% and their bachelors pass rate by a whopping 12.2 percentage points to 39.9%.
• Quintile 2 schools increased their pass rate by 5.4 percentage points to 82.9%, and their bachelors pass rate by 7.3 percentage points to 37.8%.
• Quintile 3 schools increased their pass rate by 5.0 percentage points to 83.0%, and their bachelors pass rate by 4.6 percentage points to 36.8%.
• Quintile 4 no-fee schools achieved a pass rate of 80.3% (+7.3) and a bachelors pass rate of 31.9% (+5.3).
• Quintile 5 no-fee schools achieved a pass rate of 82.4% (+10.7) and a bachelors pass rate of 31.0% (+5.9).

Re-marks, re-checks, and June exams

Maynier has encouraged all learners who did not pass their exams not to give up and to continue doing whatever they can to complete Grade 12.

They can apply for a re-mark or re-check if they do not feel their results reflect their performance, or write the exams in June.

More information on these options is available on the WCED website.

ALSO READ: Matric Results: SA’s Top Learner from Pinelands High School!