​Thembisa Shologu
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has commended the Matric Class of 2022 for rising above adversities and succeeding in their final National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations. 
The Class of 2022 recorded an 80.1% pass rate despite being faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the country's lockdown in their Grade 10 and 11 schooling years.
Announcing the results at Fairland, Johannesburg, on Thursday, Minister Motshekga said the matric Class of 2022 was the largest cohort of candidates compared to 2021's 76.4 %.
Over 900 000 candidates were registered to write the final matric exams, 753 964 being full-time and 167 915 part-time learners.
"The Class of 2022 is the first cohort to write the NSC exams, post the pandemic. You seemed unacquainted with the concept of failure, and your determination is there to marvel.
"Exacerbating the devastation caused by the pandemic, this class was subjected to the challenges of enervating load shedding and sporadic service delivery protests," said Motshekga.
The results show that none of the provinces performed below the 70% pass rate, and none had a decline compared to the previous year. The provincial pass rates are:
Free State: 88.5 %
Gauteng: 84.4 %
KwaZulu Natal: 83 %
Western Cape: 81.4 %
North West: 79.8 %
Eastern Cape: 77.3%
Mpumalanga: 76.8%
Northern Cape: 74.2 %
Limpopo: 72.1%
The top 10 district-level performances in the country are:
Motheo in the Free State:  90.8%.
Fezile Dabi in the Free State: 90.4%.
Johannesburg West in Gauteng:  89.7%.
Tshwane South in Gauteng: 89.0.
Gauteng North in Gauteng:  87.7%.
Xhariep in the Free State:  87.5%.
Thabo Mafutsanyana in the Free State: 87.3%.
Ugu in KwaZulu-Natal:  87.2%.
Umkhanyakude in KwaZulu-Natal: 86.3%.
Johannesburg North in Gauteng: 86.2%.
A total number of 278 814 candidates achieved Bachelor's passes. KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng contributed the most Bachelor passes, with 69 849 and 58 119, respectively.
The Bachelor passes achieved by learners in quintiles 1 to 3, also known as "no fee" schools, stands at 169 903, an increase of 13.4% from 2021. 
"The significance of this enormous and unequalled achievement is that the gap between the Bachelor passes produced by 'no fee' schools versus those produced by fee-paying schools has significantly and progressively increased from 2% in 2015 to 16% in 2020, to 24% in 2021 and 25% in 2022," Motshekga said.
The number of candidates who passed with a diploma improved to 8.9% from 2021, representing 26.7% of the total number of candidates who wrote the 2022 NSC examinations.
The number of candidates who passed with Higher Certificates is 108 159 – an improvement of 4.1% from 2021; and represents 14.9% of the total number of candidates who wrote the examinations.
Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the Class of 2022 deserves the congratulations and respect of the nation for rising above the challenges.
"We must all work together to build a society where learners are not measured only by their resilience in testing times but where they can fulfil their potential in conducive conditions.
"The Class of 2022 has, through its commendable performance, made our future more hopeful, a future in which this generation of young South Africans will take our country to new heights.
"As much as we celebrate individual achievement, the Class of 2022 also constitutes a pass for our education system; it vindicates the extensive and unwavering investment we have made in education during nearly 30 years of freedom," the president said in a statement.
photo cred:SABC