The National Senior Certificate (NSC) results for the Western Cape were out at noon on Thursday January 5, with an 86 percent pass rate for the province, up from last year’s 84.7 percent.
The Metro North Education District (MNED), which includes schools in Goodwood and Parow, achieved an 88.08 percent pass rate, increasing by 4.13 percent from 83.95 percent. A total of 43 725 candidates passed matric in 2016.
Education MEC Debbie Schafer said Western Cape pupils had managed to increase the province’s pass rate while retaining the highest percentage in the country of pupils within the system.
“The Western Cape’s performance in the 2016 NSC is one of quality, and of which I am very proud. I acknowledge that there is still much to be done to improve education in this province, especially the inequalities that still exist. We will continue to look at ways of improving education in the Western Cape as we want to see more learners achieving their NSC and access to higher education to broaden their opportunities,” she said.
Fairbairn College saw a slight drop in results from its 100 percent pass rate in 2015 to 99.4 percent in 2016. Hanaan Cassiem was the top pupil with a 94.4 percent pass rate and eight distinctions. She has been invited to the annual NSC awards ceremony to be held at Leeuwenhof. She was followed by Aarti Ranchad with 93.7 percent.
Goodwood College achieved a 100 percent pass rate, improving on 97.7 percent in 2015. Parow High School increased from 97.7 percent in 2015 to 99.2 percent in 2016.
JG Meiring High School in Goodwood improved its pass rate from 93.6 percent in 2015 to 97.6 percent in 2016.
Grade 12 head of department Annelie van Maaswinkel was thrilled with the results saying they were “marvellous”.
“We have had of the best results in this area,” she said. “It’s just amazing.”
The school had seen an overall improvement in matric results, including an increase in bachelor passes.
“Our top student passed with seven A aggregates with an overall mark of 90 percent,” she said.
However, all is not lost for pupils who failed or did not get the results they needed to get into university.
More than 500 pupils took advantage of the Second Chance Programme at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in Bellville. Their aim was to improve their matric results.
Among them was Nicole Rinquest, 19, from Edgemead, who wanted to improve her marks in life sciences and maths so she could study psychology.
Nicole said the pressures of writing her final exams the first time contributed to her unsatisfactory marks. “I knew I could do better,” she said.
On her second attempt, she secured a place among the top pupils who rewrote their matric.
CPUT’s Jacqui Scheepers, said: “Some learners jumped from a failure to 60-odd percent.”
The new intake of pupils for the class of 2017 would open soon. To qualify, candidates must have written Grade 12 in the years 2014, 2015 or 2016.
If you are interested, contact Yandiswa Mene at meney@cput.ac.za or Theresa Burns at burnst@cput.ac.za or call 082 419 4736 or 021 959 6868/9 between Monday January 16 and Friday February 3.
Residents say no to crèche