Cyril Ramaphosa praises the matric Class of 2024 for their record-breaking achievements

President Cyril Ramaphosa has applauded the matric Class of 2024 for their outstanding accomplishments, emphasizing their commitment and the remarkable progress in South Africa’s basic education sector.

According to official results, 615 429 learners successfully passed the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations in 2024, surpassing the pass rate of any other time in the country’s history.

The national pass rate for the National Senior Certificate increased from 82.9% in 2023 to 87.3% last year.
 
Nearly half of the learners, who wrote the NSC examinations, received a Bachelor pass, while nearly 320 000 distinctions were achieved.

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President Ramaphosa said the achievements of the Class of 2024 are a proud contribution to and evidence of the nation’s progress during 30 Years of Freedom and Democracy.
 
“These results reinforce our resolute development of our nation’s most valuable resource – our young people. They also provide proof that we are undoing apartheid’s planned legacy of intergenerational indignity, disadvantage and poverty for the majority of South Africans.
 
“These results demonstrate the agency, resilience and pride of the youth of our nation in creating a better future for themselves and for all of us.
 
“In the public and private basic education sectors, our learners, teachers, parents and caregivers deserve our appreciation, alongside school governing bodies, partners in the private sector, trade unions and academia,” the President said. 

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President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised the importance of accessible education, saying “the doors of learning have swung wide open”.

“We will celebrate each new generation that passes through these doors successfully,” he said.

He called on government and civil society to work together in supporting learners, particularly the Class of 2024, by ensuring that learners are able to take up as many opportunities created for them to succeed. 
 
“This must include the space and inspiration for young people to set their own course as entrepreneurs, innovators, inventors and other embodiments of creativity and self-reliance.
 
“The achievements of the Class of 2024 must also sharpen our resolve to attend to challenges affecting the education sector and our economic performance. We are confident the Class of 2024 will itself produce some of the answers to these challenges,” the President said.