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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) welcomes the release of the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) results in the province and congratulates those learners who have achieved this milestone, along with their educators and parents.

While KZN did not realise the same pass rate as 2020, with 76.8% — a drop of 0.8 percentage points from the year before — the number of learners who have passed matric and even obtained their bachelor passes, under very trying circumstances, paints a good picture.

The reality is that the 2021 matric class are the Grade 11 class of 2020. This particular class endured one of the harshest lockdowns on the planet, resulting in significant losses to learning and teaching time that would have built the foundation for Grade 12.

While the 2021 matric pass rate is commendable under such circumstances, it continues to belie the true state of education in KZN and is not indicative of the real picture in our province.

The real pass mark can only be achieved by looking at the entire cohort of matriculants – those who started school in Grade 1, twelve years ago – or at the intake for the Grade 10 class of 2019.

The DA will calculate these numbers in order to establish the real pass mark once the true figures become available. This figure will take into account the entire cohort and will demonstrate a more accurate figure and reflection of the performance of this group of learners.

Apart from the massive disruptions as a result of Covid-19, South African’s learners continue to be victims of this cycle of inequality and lack of proper education, with almost 100 000 matriculants added to unemployment queues every year.

It is clear that a major overhaul of the system is urgently required and it is critical that KZN’s Education Department works to towards this goal. In this regard, MEC Kwazi Mshengu and Premier Sihle Zikalala can no longer continue to exist in a bubble.

Then there are the matric learners who did not make it. They have another opportunity to re-write their exams later in the year and the DA urges them not to give up hope. The world is waiting for them.

The DA remains committed to working with MEC Mshengu and his Department to ensure that KZN’s learners receive the education they deserve. In this regard, we will continue to uphold our pledge of rigorous oversight and accountability. Without taking this obligation seriously, there can be no real turnaround for education in our province.

We reiterate our undertaking to the people of KZN that we will not waiver from our responsibilities in a bid to ensure that classrooms are the optimal place for quality education. We also pledge to make sure the Department is more transparent and more accountable, using all means available to us.

The DA will continue to fight for an improved education system for all KZN’s learners and towards seeing our province lead in terms of matric performances. This must be achieved through consistent efforts by all stakeholders.

Issued by DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, Dr Imran Keeka, MPL