Great maths results for W Cape

2008-12-30 14:08

Cape Town - The Western Cape recorded a slightly lower matric pass rate than last year, but a dramatic increase in the number of pupils passing maths, the provincial education department announced on Tuesday.

Education MEC Yusuf Gabru said 2008 had been the first year that all Grade 12 pupils had to write a mathematics paper.

An "astounding" 91% of the 24 550 candidates who wrote mathematical literacy passed, he said at an awards ceremony in Cape Town.

A total of 13 003 candidates passed mathematics, the equivalent of what used to be mathematics higher grade, compared to the 3 990 who passed higher grade in 2007.

Equaly encouraging was the 71.2% pass rate in physical science, despite complaints about the difficulty of the question papers.

Gabru said the province recorded a 78.6% pass rate, slightly lower than 2007's 80.6%.

However, almost every one of the 34 556 pupils who passed qualified for access to higher education.

"This is an amazing achievement," he said.

The figures mean the province has already met the nationally set target of a minimum 8 000 students achieving a 50% pass for maths by 2010.

Gabru said the province's good schools continued to do well, with 105 obtaining a 100% pass rate, up from 73 schools last year.

However, it was worrying that 75 schools had a pass rate of less than 60%, and the department intended to focus on them in 2009 in a bid to improve their results.

Of the 23 students on the province's top 20 list (some tied for places) 15 were girls, and it was a girl - Anique Kruger of Cape Town's Westerford High - who took the number one spot.

Westerford had three pupils in the top 23.

Kruger also won an award for the highest marks in the province in the English home language exam.

She said she had not even expected to make the top 20.

"I thought that they'd put me on the wrong list. I really wasn't expecting this at all," she said.

"I'm feeling a little faint."

She did English, Afrikaans, life orientation, mathematics, history, physical sciences and French, getting distinctions for all of them, plus an additional maths paper.

She said she was a keen ballet dancer and hockey player.

"But then this year I got injured, which gave me extra time to study. I definitely worked hard."

She intended to take a gap year, travelling in Europe, before starting a BA course in film and media studies at the University of Cape Town in 2010.

- SAPA