Bhisho no longer upbeat on matric pass rate

The Eastern Cape Education Department has “revised downwards” its earlier upbeat forecast of a 10% improvement in this year’s matric pass rate, but remains “fairly optimistic” that it can do marginally better than last year’s dismal 51%.

The DA has called into question the department’s ability to handle this year’s exams, following the AG’s disclaimer and last year’s debacle which saw thousands of markers go unpaid until March. “Our question is whether markers from last year will be willing to mark the exam scripts again this year, because of this type of mismanagement (which led to the disclaimer),” said DA educational spokesman and MPL Edmund van Vuuren, a former principal.

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