LISTEN: The matric pass rate is only part of the picture

Rahima Essop, Head of Communications and Advocacy at The Zero Dropout Campaign, speaks to Lotus FM about the need to look at school dropout alongside the matric pass rate to get a more accurate representation of the health of our education system. “The matric pass rate only tells us about the percentage of learners in Grade 12 that wrote and passed their exams, but it says nothing about how many learners dropped out along the way,” says Essop. She explains that as we celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2021, we must also put systems in place to support ALL our learners to stay in, and succeed at, school.