Naptosa praises record matric pass rate but flags ‘gatekeeping’ concerns

The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) has welcomed the announcement of the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results but has expressed concerns about exam integrity, teacher wellbeing, and the practice of “gatekeeping.”

On Monday, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube announced that the Class of 2025 achieved an 88% pass rate in the NSC examinations — the highest in South Africa’s history — saying the cohort was the largest group of candidates ever to sit for the matric exams.

Reacting to the announcement, Naptosa executive director Basil Manuel congratulated the Class of 2025 on completing the examinations, describing the results as a reflection of commitment across the sector.

“The dedication of both learners and educators has once again proven to be the cornerstone of our education system’s success,” Manuel said.

He noted that more than 927,000 candidates sat for the NSC across different qualifications and assessment bodies, making the 2025 cohort the largest candidature to date and demonstrating “increased confidence in public education”.

Manuel said Naptosa welcomed approval of the October/November 2025 examination results by Umalusi, adding that the 88% pass rate showed improvement from the previous year, “albeit minuscule”.

He further pointed to the standardisation process, saying the acceptance of raw marks for 56 out of 68 subjects — 82% — was “indicative of the stability and maturity of our assessment systems”.

However, Manuel said the union remained vigilant about threats to the integrity of the examinations, following breaches reported in Physical Sciences, Mathematics and English Home Language Paper 2, where about 40 candidates were implicated.

“Protecting the integrity of the NSC is essential,” he said, adding that cheating and the use or distribution of fraudulent certificates “will not be tolerated and must result in serious consequences”.

Manuel also highlighted the pressures faced by teachers, saying educators continued to perform under challenging circumstances and often provided extra lessons with little reprieve.

“They are an irreplaceable resource, and their well-being must be prioritised to ensure a sustainable education system,” he said.

He cautioned against an overemphasis on the academic stream, calling for greater advocacy for vocational, occupational and technical pathways, and stressed that a stronger focus on early childhood development was critical to easing pressure in the Further Education and Training phase.

Manuel also welcomed acknowledgement by both Umalusi and the Department of Basic Education of the practice of “gatekeeping” or “culling”, which he said prevented underperforming learners from writing the NSC to protect pass rates.

“This practice cripples the future of thousands of young adults,” he warned.

As the 2026 academic year begins, Manuel urged parents, guardians and authorities to support learners who did not meet the NSC requirements, pointing to alternatives such as the second-chance matric programme to ensure that “no learner is lost to the system”.

According to Umalusi, the 2025 NSC examinations were written in more than 300 subjects across approximately 9,400 examination centres nationwide, while an additional 17,413 candidates wrote the Independent Examinations Board examinations, which recorded a pass rate of 98.31%.

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