Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°69%
CTCT21°90%
PretoriaPTA33°75%
DurbanDBN30°20°

Gwarube says matric pass rate should not be sole measure

Published

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said the department will judge provinces on wider quality indicators. She spoke in Pretoria as the department declared itself ready for the 2026 NSC examinations, with 962 832 candidates registered.

Gwarube said the focus on the pass rate has had unintended consequences. She said it has pushed schools to keep weaker learners out of Grade 12 and nudged learners to take Mathematical Literacy instead of Mathematics. She also said too much focus on the overall rate could harm skills in STEM and Accounting and Economic Sciences.

She said the question should not only be whether learners passed. In her words: "The question should not only be whether learners passed, but whether provinces are improving literacy, numeracy, retention and subject participation".

Of the registered candidates, 815 051 are full-time and 147 781 are part-time. Gwarube said the rise in full-time registrations shows more learners are staying in school and finishing matric on time. Preparations are complete in all nine provinces.

Learner support interventions reached 159 180 learners at 1 262 centres. They ran in 75 education districts.

Key facts

Who
Siviwe Gwarube (Basic Education Minister); Department of Basic Education (department declaring readiness for the 2026 NSC examinations)
What
Gwarube told the media in Pretoria that focus on the matric pass rate has had unintended consequences and that the department will increasingly assess provinces using wider quality indicators. The department also declared itself ready for the 2026 NSC examinations, with 962 832 candidates registered.
When
11 October 2026
Where
Pretoria, South Africa
Status
Reported

Related stories

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

  1. BOSA's Solomons flags one-ballot problem at Cape Town voting stations
  2. Mashatile urges new councillors to put voters first
  3. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll

See every update

US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

Before the vote, US forces struck targets on Qeshm Island in Iran, while Republicans struggled to defend the war against Iran on the campaign trail. Iranian officials said US voters rejected the war, and Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

  1. Iran welcomes Democratic wins in US midterm elections
  2. Democrats win US Congress in midterm vote, projections show
  3. Ramaphosa wants US trade deal after AGOA suspension

See every update

AI Cooling

What you need to know

Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

  1. Accenture faces accusations over AI report with false citations
  2. CrowdStrike to buy two AI security startups
  3. Google lets schools turn off AI tools but limits Search

See every update