“Covid Is Not Only in Limpopo”: Mzansi Calls Out MEC Polly Boshielo for Blaming 66.7% Pass Rate on Covid19

• The matric class of 2021 has the highest number of pupils who are eligible to study at university in the history of the National Senior Certificate examination
• The Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal earned the most Bachelor passes nationally with Gauteng coming out on top
• South Africans are upset that the Limpopo is the worst-performing province and have called the Education MEC for blaming the results on the pandemic

JOHANNESBURG - The matric class of 2021 have a lot to celebrate despite facing difficult challenges by enduring two years of schooling under a pandemic.

This year's matriculants achieved the highest Bachelors passes in the history of the National Senior Certificate(NSC) with KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng coming out on top.

In both provinces, 117 704 Bachelor passes were achieved which accounts for 47% of the national Bachelors passes. The matric class also managed to achieve a slightly higher overall pass rate than the class of 2020 at 76.4%, according to SABC News.

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Gauteng achieves the highest Bachelors passes in South Africa

During a press conference, the Gauteng MEC Lesufi Panyaza stated that he was proud of the Gauteng matriculants for their achievements.

While the Gauteng province's 83.2% overall pass rate, placing the province in second place, Lesufi is still proud that they received the highest Bachelors passes nationally.

In addition to those achievements, Lesufi added that the Gauteng province was able to keep 84% of its learners in school since 2010, reports EWN.

Limpopo province is the lowest-performing province

The Limpopo province received an overall pass rate of 66.7% and the Limpopo MEC of Education Polly Boshielo has attributed this decline since 2019 to the Covid19 pandemic.

Boshielo highlighted that the learning challenges that existed in the province prior became worse as a result of the pandemic.

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She explained that pupils lost out on vital classroom time in 2020 when they were in grade 11 adding that these pupils experienced learning challenges for two consecutive years. Additionally, the rotational timetable proved to be another loss of in-person learning.

“Due to the reduced teaching and learning time, the 2021 cohort was exposed to trimmed and adjusted annual teaching plans that excluded content covered by previous Grade 11 cohorts. The knowledge gap brought into Grade 12 by Grade 11 learners cannot be overlooked," said Boshielo.

South Africans say Limpopo can't blame Covid19 for bad performance

South Africans are not convinced that Limpopo can solely blame the low pass rate on the pandemic. Some people have highlighted that other provinces were able to adjust to the challenges presented by Covid19 and Limpopo should have done the same.

Here are some comments:

@CharlesPhadu said:

"Covid is not only in Limpopo, she must look for another excuse, not covid. The problem is they hire unqualified teachers. Secondly, our children must be a priority at teachers' union, not their brunch or regional meetings."

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@Lebogang015 said:

"All provinces are affected by COVID-19. COVID-19 etloba excuse gofihla neng? I mean by now everyone (except Limpopo Education Department) has put in place measures and strategies to manoeuvre around the pandemic. Ake happy ka performance ya Polly Boshielo"

@EphraimManamela said:

"Since she became MEC, education in Limpopo has been going down the drain."

@Unahinanaye said:

"She must stop gaslighting us, covid affected all the provinces in the country and some produced excellent results. She isn't good at anything."

Angie Motshekga announces overall pass rate of 76.4% for 2021 matrics: 'Best of the best'

Briefly News previously reported that Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga announced the results for the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations at the SABC M1 Studios in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, on Thursday.

Motshekga congratulated the class of 2021 for drumming up sterling results despite "the monumental and unprecedented" challenges brought about by the worst pandemic in human history. The 2021 NSC overall pass rate was 76.4 per cent, an improvement of 0.2 percentage points compared to 2020.

More than 800 000 learners sat down for the year-end exams last year, with the matric class that wrote the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) exams securing a 98.39 per cent pass rate, News24 reported.

Source: Briefly News