MBOMBELA – The good news is brought by none other than the MEC for Education, Cathy Dlamini, who assumed the seat at the resumption of the Seventh Administration’s five-year term of office.
She has proven that new brooms sweep cleaner, but she’s yearning for cleanest. Her main mission, this time around, is drastically improving Grade 12 examinations performance and have all districts of Gert Sibande and Nkangala being on par with the Ehlanzeni District which outperforms them, year in and year out.
On Monday, 24 March 2025, she met educators and principals of Ehlanzeni schools at Hoerskool Nelspruit, separately after having conducted a personal on-the-ground investigation into the failure of the two districts failing to rise to the occasion when it comes to producing credible results each year. It transpired from her on-the-ground
One of the factors affecting the department is crime in schools including theft and kidnapping of learners from school premises in other areas.
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She said that serious interventions will be undertaken to address the security as recently as last week Tuesday, MEC for Finance, Bonakele Majuba, has allocated a security budget to address the crises in schools.
“A number of factors affect them, one of which is crime at schools in those areas, lhence, through the budget allocated to us recently, we are going to ensure that all schools in the province are secured enough to allow a cordial learning atmosphere that will lead to the improvement of learning and teaching at all schools in the province.
We will also ensure all learning amenities and extra assistance is offered to all and sundry and put all our schools on par with all schools,” she vowed.
VIDEO: Education MEC tackles educators head-on as she strives to improve results all-round
In the 2024 Grade 12 (NSC) examinations, Mpumalanga achieved a pass rate of 84.99%, marking a significant improvement from the 76.95% recorded in 2023.
Improvements in Districts:
Gert Sibande came second with an 87.7% pass rate after Ehlanzeni, who topped the province with an 88.4% pass rate
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
• Overall Pass Rate:
Mpumalanga’s 2024 matric pass rate was 84.99%, an improvement of 8% from the previous year.
• National Context:
The national matric pass rate for 2024 was 87.3%, representing the highest pass rate in South Africa’s history.
• Provincial Ranking:
Mpumalanga’s pass rate places it among the top-performing provinces, with Limpopo and the Eastern Cape also achieving high pass rates.
