Johannesburg - The Free State's matric pass rate was 39 percent, and not 82.8 percent as announced by the education department, the Democratic Alliance in the province said on Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question in the legislature last year, education MEC Tate Makgoe said 55 625 pupils were enrolled for Grade 10 in 2012, but by the start of 2014, only 26 633 had enrolled for matric, DA MPL Mariette Pittaway said.
“By the date of the reply the number of matriculants in public schools dropped further to 26,078 matriculants,” Pittaway said in a statement.
“This means 29 547 learners (53 percent) just dropped out of the public school system without the necessary skills and the basic level of education needed for adult life,” she said.
By factoring in the pupils who were supposed to have been in matric, but had failed or dropped out of school before the writing the exams, the actual pass rate was 39 percent, said Pittaway.
It was sad that almost 30 000 pupils had been left behind by the education system and would probably join the ranks of the unemployed, she said.
Announcing the results on Monday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the Free State's overall pass rate had dropped from the 87.4 percent it received the previous year.
The province placed third, behind Gauteng, which received top honours with 84.7 percent, and the North West which obtained 84.6 percent.
Sapa