Cape Town – The 2016 IEB pass rate is 98.67%, comparable to last year’s pass rate of 98.30%, the Independent Examinations Board announced on Thursday.
This year, 11 022 full-time and 703 part-time candidates from 237 examination venues across South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland wrote the IEB National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations in October and November 2016.
Of the 11 022 full-time students who wrote, 10 871 (98.67%) passed and 151 (1.33%) failed.
According to the IEB, all candidates that passed achieved a pass that is good enough to enter tertiary study at one of the three levels.
* 87.61% of the cohort achieved entry to degree study, compared to 85.26% in 2015.
* 9.83% qualified for entry to diploma study, compared to 11.66% in 2015.
* 1.23% achieved entry for study at the Higher Certificate level, compared to 1.37% in 2015.
See how the IEB Class of 2016 fared against last year's results
Part-time students do not write the full set of subjects and hence are not included in the results. They get a statement of results for the subject/s they write, the IEB said.
The board said that Umalusi had monitored all aspects of the 2016 IEB examinations process and declared the results as fair and valid.
“The IEB is proud of the achievements of the Class of 2016. With a commitment to hard work over 12 years of schooling, supported by a dedicated cohort of teachers and parents, these learners have achieved the first major milestone in their learning careers," said Anne Oberholzer, CEO of the IEB.
"There is also a clear realisation among IEB learners, their parents and their teachers that having the knowledge and understanding that lies behind the results on the certificate is far more important and meaningful for success after one’s schooling. To have a certificate with good results, but not the substance of learning required for success, simply means facing failure at the next step of your learning career,” she said Oberholzer.
The performance of the class of 2016 in Advanced Programme Mathematics, consisting of 1407 learners from IEB schools and 1275 learners in state schools has been very pleasing with 87,9% achieving a pass above 40%, compared to 87,7% in 2015. From a total of 652 learners offering AP English, 98,12% achieved a pass mark of 40% and above, while all learners offering AP Afrikaans achieved a mark of 40% and above. the IEB said.
The Advanced Programme courses are extension courses benchmarked by UK NARIC, the UK equivalent of the South African Qualifications Authority, and are considered equivalent to the UK A-levels.
Also, of the 66 candidates who offered Combined Abitur-NSC – a qualification offered by the German Schools in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria – all passed with entry to degree study. The qualification consists of five subjects assessed by the IEB and seven subjects assessed by the German Education authorities. Through this government-to-government agreement, successful learners in the Combined Abitur-NSC are recognised by German education authorities for entry to German universities and by the South African education authorities for entry to South African universities, the IEB said.
* The closing date for the application for remarks is 10 January 2017 and the results from remarking will be released on 1 February 2017. The closing date for learners who qualify to enroll for the supplementary examination to do so, is 6 February 2017.
Oberholzer voiced concern over the increase in dishonesty in SA's education system.
“Parents should be vigilant that the school they choose for their children upholds the highest ethical values that they would want their children to subscribe to. There are a number of associations to which independent schools may belong that assure the public of the bona fides of their member schools," she said.
Such associations include the Independent Schools Association of South Africa (ISASA), the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) as well as a number of religious school associations such as the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Muslim and Jewish schools. Groups of schools committed to quality education, associated with the IEB, include the Curro schools, some brands in the Advtech group as well as the REDDAM schools., she said.
"Furthermore parents should check the registration status of the school with the relevant provincial department of education, and should the school be offering the NSC examination, it is critical for parents to check the accreditation status of the school with Umalusi,” advised Oberholzer.