We were holding our breath, but results better than anticipated - Umalusi

Umalusi head Prof Volmink says results were not expected to go up this year, and the results are credible.

South Africa has a 76.2% overall result for #MatricResults2020

Prof John Volmink, the head of Umalusi, speaks to Refilwe Moloto about the process leading up to the release of the matric results.

It is a 5.1 percentage point drop from last year's pass rate but in the context of this past year Umalusi head, Prof John Volmink says they are pleased.

We did not expect results to go up this year, and the results better than what we anticipated.

Prof John Volmink, Head - Umalusi

We were holding our breath, and when the overall results came out we were pleased, and they were also credible.

Prof John Volmink, Head - Umalusi

The year after democracy came into being in the country in 1995 the pass rate was 52%.

When we started this democracy in 1995, and it was the first time we had an examination under the new democratic era the pass rate was 52%.

Prof John Volmink, Head - Umalusi

So we should never forget that. We are a nation on the rise. There will be a few inflection points but we are going up year after year.

Prof John Volmink, Head - Umalusi

He says last year about 700,000 students enrolled for Grade 12.

But in the end, we only had 578,000 that wrote the exam.

Prof John Volmink, Head - Umalusi

He says while the attrition rate is high, absenteeism was less than in previous years.

Listen to the interview with Prof Volmink in the audio below:

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