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The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Free State Province (FS) congratulates the Class of 2023 for obtaining the national pass rate of 82.9 per cent which is reflective of commendable and consistent year-on-year improvement in the national overall pass rate. The Party in the province is also particularly impressed and congratulates the consistent best performance by Free State, with the class of 2023 producing an overall 89.3 per cent pass rate.

The Free State province has been the best performing province in the country in percentage terms for several consecutive years. The Party welcomes the fact that the province has been producing steadily increasing best performances, having secured 85.7 per cent, 88.5 per cent and 89.3 per cent in 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. Despite the lower total enrolled learners for the province, which is nonetheless reflective of the provincial population dynamics, the province has produced an impressive second best 44.7 per cent of bachelor admissions. Eighty-eight (88) per cent of learners with special needs in the province also passed their NSC. Furthermore, the Party is happy that all districts in the province have achieved over 85 per cent pass rate, with general result improvements in the majority of subjects. This represents consistency, quality and efficiency in the education system in the province.

The SACP in the province does not view these results with a prism of an unhealthy competition between provinces, synonymous with the capitalist ethos, that seeks only its own better provincial performance than others, at all costs. If anything, we hope that our provincial performance serves to motivate others to strive for year-on-year improvements in order to ultimately attain parity in best performances across the country.

The ANC’s intervention and investment in education as an apex priority is commendable and will yield good economic dividends for the country once the learners ultimately enter the world of work. South Africa invests a larger share of GDP in education than any country in Africa. The majority of learners who sit for matric comes from poor, working-class families and the ANC-led government has ensured that a total of 441,871 (81.3 per cent) learners supported through social grants attained NSC. Moreover, the no-fee school policy and school feeding scheme has unlocked access to schooling to the majority of poor, vulnerable and orphaned children. This represents a caring government!

Efforts to make education accessible and redress the imbalances and disparities of the past must be intensified. Investment in 4th industrial revolution cutting edge technologies for schools’ laboratories – especially in township and rural schools – that help empower the learners to, amongst others, acquire skills to produce efficient instruments of production and build the much needed productive capacity of the country and strengthen a capacitated developmental state is indispensable. It is important to link our education curriculum to envisaged developmental priorities of the country.

The quality and efficiency of our education system is maturing well and needs to be consolidated. In this regard, the performance difference between independent schools and schools in fee-paying quantiles compared to no-fee schools is fast disappearing. For instance, in the Free State, independent schools, often very expensive and having requisite teaching and learning infrastructure obtained 91.21 per cent, fee-paying schools obtained 93.38 per cent whilst the no-fee school, usually located in working-class townships and rural areas, achieved an impressive and comparable 87.75 per cent pass rate and with good quality passes for bachelor admissions.

The SACP in the province is, however, still concerned with learners who drop out of their schooling journey. From the inception of the current cohort of matriculants in 2001, several learners could not make it to matric. A deeper tracing and study of underlying factors that influence dropping out is necessary and government and societal interventions must also follow.

The SACP applauds the gallant efforts of all stakeholders, inclusive of political leadership, administrative and departmental staff as well as civil society champions in the education fraternity who played a role in enhancing the schooling system to ultimately produce these commendable results. The ANC-led government is urged to continue to prioritise education which provides a key to endless possibilities for any society and nation.

The Party also expresses words of encouragement to learners who did not make it and urges them to consider various options and avenues made available by the ANC-led democratic government.

Issued by SACP Free State province