By Johnathan Paoli
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said on Monday night that South Africa’s 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) result was evidence that “excellence is becoming a pattern”, but warned that deep, early learning reforms remain essential to sustain progress and close persistent inequalities.
Announcing the historic national pass rate of 88%, the highest on record and up from 87.3% in 2024, Gwarube said the results reflect a system that is stabilising, expanding participation and holding firm on integrity, while beginning a decisive shift toward quality learning from the earliest grades.
“The 2025 results show us that excellence is spreading into communities that have carried the heaviest burdens, but they also remind us that the number of learners enrolling should never run ahead of our ability to ensure that they perform well,” Gwarube said.
More than 656,000 learners passed the NSC in 2025, with KwaZulu-Natal emerging as the best-performing province at 90.6%, followed by the Free State (89.33%), Gauteng (89.06%), North West (88.49%) and the Western Cape (88.20%).
The Northern Cape recorded the biggest year-on-year improvement to 87.79%, while Mpumalanga (86.55%), Limpopo (86.15%) and the Eastern Cape (84.17%) completed the provincial spread.
For the first time, all 75 education districts achieved pass rates of 80% and above, a milestone Gwarube described as a key indicator that improvement was spreading system-wide.
Crucially, the minister emphasised that the headline numbers are underpinned by credibility.
The 2025 examinations, written by over 900 000 candidates at about 6,000 centres, were quality assured by Umalusi, with irregularities investigated and controls strengthened. “These results are earned, not gifted,” said Gwarube.
Beyond the aggregate pass rate, Gwarube pointed to gains in quality outcomes.
The percentage of Bachelor passes declined slightly, meaning Bachelor passes made up a slightly smaller share of all passes.
But the total number of candidates writing and passing increased significantly, because the 2025 matric class was the largest in South Africa’s history.
A further 28% achieved Diploma passes and 13.5% Higher Certificate passes.
Notably, over 66% of Bachelor passes were achieved by learners from no-fee schools, reinforcing the minister’s message that poverty need not determine destiny.
At the same time, she cautioned against complacency, particularly in gateway subjects.
Mathematics participation increased but performance declined, with the pass rate falling from 69% to 64%; accounting dropped from 81% to 78%, while physical science edged up to 77% from 76%.
Fewer distinctions were recorded in these subjects than in 2024.
“Growing participation without the foundations to support mastery risks widening access while weakening quality,” Gwarube warned.
The minister situated these outcomes within a broader reform agenda launched over the past year. Since assuming office, the department has stabilised governance, rebuilt trust with provinces and unions, protected exam integrity and shifted from crisis management to long-term reform, she said.
Central to that shift is a focus on early learning illustrated by expanded early childhood development (ECD) registration, which exceeded a 10,000-centre target to reach more than 33,000 registered sites, enabling over a million children to access subsidies for nutrition and quality learning.
Other achievements include the release of the Funda Uphumelele national reading survey, expansion of mother tongue-based bilingual education, the first bilingual Grade 4 assessments in mathematics and natural science, an updated catalogue of learning materials for Grades 1–3, and a review of the teaching post allocation formula for the first time in over two decades.
Teacher development has been strengthened through targeted Funza Lushaka bursaries, while learner well-being has been prioritised through the school nutrition programme, strengthened safety protocols with SAPS, and a planned anti-bullying campaign in early 2026.
Looking ahead, Gwarube outlined priorities for 2026: accelerating early learning quality and access, including a new target of 250,000 ECD spaces; deepening mastery in gateway subjects with earlier intervention; finalising the review of White Paper 6 on inclusive education, streamlining reporting to protect teaching time; and addressing financial sustainability across provinces following a first-ever analysis that flagged seven provinces as at risk.
She was candid about the remaining challenges.
Learner retention drops sharply between Grades 10 and 12; boys are increasingly underrepresented in matric cohorts; mathematics uptake remains low at 34%; and social protection gaps affect performance, with learners whose grants lapse at 18 performing worse.
Fiscal constraints, she warned, could undermine early learning, nutrition and support if austerity measures are applied without care.
INSIDE EDUCATION
