LISTEN: Overall NSC pass rate stands at 74.6%, but what about those who dropped out before their matric exams?

The outcomes of the National Senior Certificate examinations were published by the Department of Basic Education yesterday indicating a 76.4% pass rate which is slightly up on last year. Rahima Essop, Head of Communications and Advocacy at the Zero Dropout Campaign, speaks to Power FM host, Thabiso Tema, about this. Essop explains that 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. She adds that a preoccupation with the matric pass rate obscures our high dropout rate and other challenges facing the basic education sector. Professor Brahm Fleisch also weighs in on the results.