Despite completing their final year of high school amid increased rolling blackouts, which made it difficult to study and posed a threat to writing exams, the IEB class of 2022 achieved an exceptional 98.42% – a slight (0.03%) improvement on 2021’s pass rate.

At least 12,580 full-time and 945 part-time candidates sat for the IEB national certificate exams in October and November 2022 across 232 examination centres and 267 venues across southern Africa. Reportedly, 12,857 full-time and 968 part-time candidates took the exams in 2021.

Nearly 90% of them (89.32%) achieved entry to degree study at tertiary level, compared with 89.2% in 2021, while 7.52% qualified for diploma study and 1.57% for study at the Higher Certificate level.

According to IEB chief executive Anne Oberholzer, the pass rate for the class of 2022 is “outstanding” despite the many challenges faced by candidates.

“The performance of the 2022 cohort of students has been outstanding. There is enough credible research on the impact of Covid-19 on the educational aspects of children to provide insight into where we are at, in coming out of the pandemic almost three years later. It is fair to say that it is the 2022 cohort of learners that was hardest hit by the impact of the pandemic when it broke in 2020 in their Grade 10 year.” 

In addition to the challenges that followed two years of battling the Covid-19 pandemic, the matric class of 2022 faced increased rolling blackouts which made it difficult to study and posed a threat to the writing of exams.

When the pandemic hit in 2020 they were in Grade 10, an important transition year into Further Education and Training Phase (FET) which was disrupted by unprecedented changes – rotational attendance, sporadic school closures and days off for specific grades, which resulted in children losing most of their learning time and others reportedly dropping out.

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Oberholzer added: “While the class of 2022 has seen how previous Grade 12 classes of 2020 and 2021 managed to adapt to a new reality, this was the class that missed out the most in their Grade 10 and Grade 11 years, which are fundamentally important to success in their Grade 12 performance. They have had to work hard to maintain their drive and perseverance to succeed and, in many respects, dig deep to play catch-up in terms of lost time and experiences.

“The social and emotional impact of the pandemic on learners cannot be overlooked – the impact of lockdown, the absence of normal social interaction with friends and engaging in the social activities of teenagers should not be underestimated. The dedication of the teaching community to implement various strategies to support their classes during this black-swan event is exemplary. The IEB congratulates the candidates, their teachers and parents for a job extraordinarily well done.” 

Read in Daily Maverick: “South Africa’s matric pass rate improves slightly to 76.4% despite ‘extremely difficult circumstances’”

Individual matric results for IEB pupils were available from midnight and candidates can access them at their former schools. 

The results were published after the quality assurance board, Umalusi, announced its approval on Monday. 

The Department of Basic Education is expected to announce the highly anticipated public schools results on Thursday evening. They will be available to candidates by midnight on Friday. DM

This article may be updated with additional information as it becomes available.