The class of 2021 will be remembered their matric year as one of challenge and triumph.
The challenge was coping with the unknowns of new Covid-19 variants and managing its subsequent effects on learning. The triumph was overcoming learning loss and maintaining high academic discipline.
The results of class of 2021 is a triumph for the learners who participated and the society that supported them. The response of the Western Cape Education Department, with the support of parents and their communities to insulate this class from potential harm and safeguard their right to education’s promise of a better future, has borne fruit.
Cape Winelands managed to achieve a 76,5 % aggregate in this year’s matric results. Although the lowest in the province, there are schools which managed to improve their statistics. Schools that managed to obtain a 100% pass rate this time around are: Charlie Hofmeyr High School, Langerugskool, Montana High School and McGregor Waldorf School and Pioneer School.
Schools noteworthy because of changes in their pass rates (good and not-so-good), and whose results were highly anticipated were:
Somerset High School, which recorded its first group of matriculants in 2019 and only achieved an average of 48,3%.
In 2020 the school rose to the occasion and received a 74,5 % aggregate.
Last year, 63 matriculants sat down for the NSC examinations and 50 of them passed which pushed the school’s average to 79,4%. Breërivier High School’s average has been deteriorating over the last three years. In last year’s NSC examinations only 46,6% of the class of 2021 passed.
Zwelethemba High School had a total of 117 matriculants, of whom only 48 passed. This brought their pass rate to a worrisome 41%.
Another school that seems to be getting its groove back slowly but surely is De Kruine Secondary School in Touws River. The school achieved a 65% pass rate in last year’s NSC examinations, which is a much better performance from the 58,4% pass rate achieved in 2020.
Vusisizwe Secondary School managed to achieve only a 55,7% in last year’s matric exams. The two high schools in Tulbagh that were said to merge in the beginning of this year, namely Tulbagh High School and Waveren High School, scored a 82,4 and 44,3%, respectively.
Tulbagh High School missed the 90s mark, which it has been carrying for the past two years. Brandvlei Youth Centre achieved an average of 94,7% in last year’s NSC examinations.
