PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA COMMENDS CLASS OF 2024 ON RECORD ACHIEVEMENTS

Cyril Ramaphosa President of The Republic of South Africa
- The matric Class of 2024 has set a number of achievements, including surpassing all the previous pass rates, with 87.3% passing the National Senior Certificate exams.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa lauded the 2024 matriculants, saying: “The achievements of the Class of 2024 are a proud contribution to and evidence of our progress as a nation during 30 years of freedom and democracy.”
- Almost half of the learners achieved a Bachelor pass, while nearly 320 000 distinctions were recorded.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated the matric Class of 2024 on their multiple unprecedented achievements, including their resilience and drive to create a better future for themselves and for all of us.
The national pass rate for the National Senior Certificate went up by a significant 4%, from 82.9% in 2023 to 87.3% last year, while 615 429 learners passed, surpassing the pass rate of all previous pass rates. The results were announced on Monday, 13 January 2025.
Almost half of the Class of 2024 achieved a Bachelor pass, while nearly 320 000 distinctions were recorded.
“The achievements of the Class of 2024 are a proud contribution to and evidence of our progress as a nation during 30 years of freedom and democracy,” said President Ramaphosa.
“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.”
He added that many had played a role in the success of the Class of 2024 in both the public and private basic education sectors and deserved acknowledgment: learners; teachers; parents and guardians, school governing bodies; partners in the private sector; trade unions; and academia.
“The doors of learning have swung wide open, and we will celebrate each new generation that passes through these doors successfully,” the president added.
However, the results of the 2024 exams are not the end of the road. “As government and our partners in civil society, we must all work together to ensure that learners such as the Class of 2024 are able to take up as many opportunities as we can create for them to succeed,” said President Ramaphosa.
“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.”
Against the backdrop of the 2024 results, much work still needs to be done to tackle the challenges in the education sector.
“We are confident the Class of 2024 will itself produce some of the answers to these challenges,” President Ramaphosa concluded.