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Students who wrote the Independent Examinations Board national senior certificate exams in 2024 achieved a pass rate of 98.47%, the highest level in five years. File photo: ER LOMBARD/GALLO IMAGES
Students who wrote the Independent Examinations Board national senior certificate exams in 2024 achieved a pass rate of 98.47%, the highest level in five years. File photo: ER LOMBARD/GALLO IMAGES

Students who wrote the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) national senior certificate exams in 2024 achieved a pass rate of 98.47%, the highest level in five years. However, the results fall just shy of the 98.8% pass rate achieved in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

The IEB is an independent assessment body that offers exams for IEB-registered schools in line with the curriculum standards set by the department of basic education. A total of 16,304 candidates wrote the IEB national senior certificate exams in 2024, up from 15,180 candidates the year before.

Most of the grade 12 candidates who wrote IEB exams in 2024 had just started grade 8 — the first year of high school — when SA’s first case of Covid-19 was detected in March 2020. They faced extensive disruptions to their education during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic as the government instituted a series of school closures in response to successive waves of the virus.

IEB CEO Confidence Dikgole said the class of 2024 was a testament to resilience and perseverance.

“In grade 8, amid the severe lockdown of 2020, they encountered disruptions to foundational learning, adapted to new modes of education and navigated the psychological impacts of uncertainty and isolation. While these challenges may not have directly affected their grade 12 year, they undoubtedly shaped their academic journey,” she said in a statement.

“Their ability to overcome these obstacles highlights their determination and commitment, making their achievements in the 2024 national senior certificate examinations even more commendable,” she said.

A total of 89.37% of the candidates who wrote the IEB exams in October and November achieved the marks required for entry into degree study, up slightly on the 88.59% in 2023 and the highest in five years. The number of candidates who qualified for entry to diploma study dropped slightly to 7.56%, down from 8.3% in 2023, while 1.53% achieved entry for study at the Higher Certificate level, compared to 1.57% in 2023.

Dikgole said the class of 2024 marked a generation increasingly shaped by technical advancements, including smartphones and Generative AI. While these tools supported personalised learning and accessibility to education, they also highlighted a growing need for cultivating critical thinking and responsible technology use in education, she said.

“The IEB continues to adapt its assessments to ensure that they measure genuine understanding and skills in a rapidly evolving academic landscape,” she said.

Quality assurance body Umalusi said the exams administered by the IEB were free of systemic irregularities that might have undermined their credibility. The IEB monitored all but one of its 275 exam venues with real-time video surveillance systems, and physically inspected 66 exam centres, it said.

kahnt@businesslive.co.za

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