By Levy Masiteng
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said on Sunday that South Africa’s “obsession” with matric pass rates has encouraged schools to manipulate their results by holding back weaker learners and steering pupils away from challenging subjects.
Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria about the state of readiness for the exams, Gwarube said provincial performance would in future be measured against a broader range of indicators, including Bachelor’s passes, distinctions, learner retention and performance in subjects such as Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Accounting and Economics.
The announcement came as the Department of Basic Education declared itself ready for the 2026 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, which start on Tuesday.
A record 962,832 candidates have registered for this year’s exams, including 815,051 full-time candidates and 147,781 part-time candidates.
“Over the past years the quality of our basic education system has been reduced to this single figure, this single question; what is the pass rate?” she said.
“This obsession has had unintended consequences and has incentivised the wrong kinds of behaviour.”
These included “culling”, where academically weaker learners were prevented from progressing to Grade 12, and “gatekeeping”, where learners who qualified for progression were kept back in Grade 11.
She also criticised the practice of encouraging learners to take Mathematical Literacy instead of Mathematics to improve schools’ overall pass rates.
“This obsession with the matric pass rate and its perverse incentives has been to the detriment of this country’s ability to produce skills in STEM professions, in Accounting and Economic Sciences,” Gwarube said.
“This must change, if our country is to be economically competitive, it needs deep and meaningful skills in STEM and other gateway subjects.”
New measures for provincial performance
“Going forward, therefore, I have decided that provincial performance will be ranked through a broader basket of quality indicators,” she said.
“This basket of quality indicators will include the number of Bachelor passes, distinctions, the levels of learner retention, as well as the rate of participation and performance in gateway subjects such as Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Accounting and Economics, amongst others.”
She said the approach would allow provinces to compare their performance more meaningfully and identify areas requiring intervention.
“The question will not only be whether learners passed, but whether provinces are improving literacy, numeracy, retention and gateway subject participation,” she said.
COVID-19’s lasting impact on the Class of 2026
Gwarube also highlighted the particular challenges facing this year’s matric candidates, who experienced significant disruptions to their education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Class of 2026 began Grade 1 in January 2015 and reached Grade 6 in 2020, when the pandemic forced widespread school closures, rotational timetables and interruptions to classroom teaching.
Gwarube said the disruption occurred during a critical stage of learners’ educational development, when they should have been strengthening their literacy and numeracy skills before entering secondary school.
Although schools subsequently resumed full-time teaching, she said some effects of the lost learning time had persisted into later grades.
Foundational learning gaps, socioeconomic inequalities and teacher attrition in certain provinces had remained important considerations in preparing the cohort for their final examinations.
To address these challenges, the department used findings from its 2025 NSC Diagnostic Report to identify subjects and topics where learners had experienced difficulties.
Teachers, subject advisers and school management teams used the findings to strengthen curriculum coverage and target additional academic support.
More than 159,000 learners receive extra support
According to Gwarube, the department’s 2026 Learner Support Programme reached 159,180 learners through 1,262 centres across all 75 education districts.
The interventions focused particularly on learners needing additional assistance, progressed learners and schools experiencing performance challenges.
Candidates received revision guides, previous examination papers, online learning materials and opportunities to write mock examinations.
The department also continued its Second Chance Matric Programme, offering part-time candidates additional learning opportunities through after-hours and weekend classes at 41 centres.
Learning materials were distributed to 84 centres, while 15 provincial learner workshops were held.
The department said candidates could also access free online resources and educational broadcasts on radio and television.
Gwarube urged parents to give matriculants sufficient time and space to prepare for their examinations rather than burdening them with household responsibilities.
“Please give them the space and support they need to perform at their very best in these exams,” she said.
Record number of matric candidates
The department registered 48,508 more full-time candidates than in 2025, while part-time registrations increased by 10,763.
“The growth in full-time registration is an indication that learners are staying in school, that they are finishing matric in good time, and, as the results of last year show, more and more are being successful in their first attempt at the NSC Matric Exams,” she said.
The exams will be conducted at approximately 7,100 centres across the country.
The department has established 189 marking centres and recruited 51,104 educators to mark examination scripts.
Gwarube said question papers and examination materials had undergone quality assurance and had been approved by Umalusi, while additional security measures had been introduced to protect the integrity of the examinations.
These included stricter vetting of examination officials, strengthened security during the production and distribution of examination papers and risk-based monitoring of examination centres.
She also warned communities against disrupting examinations during service delivery protests or political demonstrations.
The department has contingency plans to deal with operational disruptions, including severe weather and community unrest.
“Having considered the comprehensive preparations reported by all nine Provincial Education Departments, I am proud to announce that the Department of Basic Education and the class of 2026 are Ready for the 2026 National Senior Certificate examinations,” she said.
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