The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape celebrates the resilience of school communities whose hard work secured an improvement in the Northern Cape’s provincial pass rate, from 84.2% in 2024 to 87.7% in 2025.
We applaud the commitment from individual learners who did their best in difficult circumstances, guided by educators, school management teams, district officials, and supportive family members. Whether you plan to continue your studies or to pursue economic opportunities, we wish you all the best and trust that this resilience will help you to succeed against any future odds.
We appreciate the national minister’s data-driven assessment of difficulties with key subjects and urge the provincial government to implement improvement plans that incorporate these aspects fully. Even with the overall improvement, the Northern Cape still has the lowest pass rate in Physical Sciences while the provincial pass rate in Mathematics decreased from 62.8% in 2024 to 55.3% in 2025. All hope is not yet lost, however, and we congratulate Kimberley Girls’ High and Hoërskool Upington for consistent good results in these subjects.
We must also congratulate Enoch Mthetho High School in Noupoort and Hoërskool Kenhardt in Kenhardt. These two schools are ranked as quintile two schools, which speaks to the impoverished circumstances of their communities, and yet they are among the ten schools in the province that recorded pass rates of 100% in 2025. It affirms that learners from lower quintiles can achieve academic success with the right guidance and support.
It is no mean feat to record the biggest improvement in the provincial pass rate amidst the kind of financial chaos that erupted in the last academic year. School communities battled extreme financial pressures in 2025 as the Northern Cape Department of Education failed to pay monies owed to schools on time and in full. We will continue to hold the provincial department accountable for its financial support to schools, so that we can maintain an upward trajectory in the Northern Cape.