The South African Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and the Select Committee on Education recently held a joint meeting to discuss the 2025 National Senior Certificate results and the Second Chance Matric Program. Chairperson Ms Joy Maimela congratulated the sector on the 88% pass rate, saying that the sector has matured and fully recovered from the COVID-19 era when the pass rate was 76%. While the sector celebrated this milestone, they also stressed that the quality of these results must be questioned in conjunction with the pass rate to ensure that learners are equipped for the future.
The performance statistics showed a positive movement in the level of achievement as the number of learners who qualified for bachelor’s studies rose by 8,699, reaching a total of 345,857 in 2025. This rise has led to the Department of Basic Education urging a greater level of cooperation with higher education institutions to ensure that there is adequate capacity to absorb this number of successful learners. On the other hand, a disturbing trend was observed in the social grant recipients whose pass rate dropped from 86.06% in 2024 to 77.70% in 2025. To remedy this situation, the department intends to lobby for the extension of child support grants to learners who stay in school beyond the age of 18 years.
The issue of integrity was a prominent area of concern, with Umalusi noting instances of non-compliance in the administration of examinations, and these included collusion on the part of invigilators, group copying and the presence of unauthorised items in examination rooms. A particular investigation into a leak that impacted physical sciences, mathematics and English home language examinations confirmed that the incident was limited to about 40 candidates out of a pool of 600,000. Although the incident was small in scale, the department has placed a suspect on suspension pending the results of a forensic audit, with a final report to be submitted to Minister Siviwe Gwarube by February 24, 2026.
Ms Maimela also spoke to the issue of schools advising students not to pursue pure mathematics to safeguard pass rates, terming the practice as undermining students’ choices at the tertiary level. She has requested a written report from the department detailing the administrative lapses identified by Umalusi. The authorities have warned that the law allows for the revocation of certificates even after they are issued if new evidence of irregularities is found during investigations.
