South Africa’s Class of 2025 has officially written itself into the history books.

On 12 January 2026, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube announced the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results, revealing a national pass rate of 88% — the highest ever recorded in the country’s democratic history. This represents a steady improvement from 87.3% in 2024, confirming that South Africa’s education system is slowly but surely stabilising after years of disruption.

Even more impressive is the size of this achievement. The Class of 2025 was the largest matric cohort ever, with more than 900,000 learners (some estimates put it closer to 920,000) writing final exams across thousands of centres nationwide. Out of them, over 656,000 learners passed, a powerful demonstration of resilience, commitment and academic endurance.

Class of 2025 Makes History with Record-Breaking 88% Matric Pass Rate

Top-Performing Provinces

Provincial performance showed encouraging consistency across the country, with all nine provinces delivering strong results.

Here is the official provincial ranking:

A major achievement this year is that all 75 education districts across South Africa recorded pass rates above 80%, showing that progress is no longer limited to a few strong regions — it is becoming nationwide.

What Did Learners Qualify For?

Passing matric is one thing, but the type of pass determines what opportunities open up next. The Class of 2025 delivered solid outcomes across all qualification levels:

• 46% achieved Bachelor’s passes (qualifying for university admission)

• 28% achieved Diploma passes

• 13.5% achieved Higher Certificate passes

These figures mean nearly half of all successful learners are now eligible to apply to universities, a major boost for higher education access in South Africa.

IEB Results

Private and independent schools, assessed by the Independent Examinations Board (IEB), also performed strongly. The IEB recorded a 98.31% pass rate, slightly down from 98.47% in 2024, but still among the highest in the world.

The Bigger Picture: Beyond the 88%

While the 88% pass rate is a major achievement, education experts and some political parties argue that it doesn’t tell the full story.

When results are measured against the full cohort that started Grade 10 in 2023 (about 1.14 million learners), the effective completion rate drops to roughly 57.7%. This means that many learners are still dropping out before reaching matric — mainly due to:

• Poverty and food insecurity

• Transport and school access issues

• Overcrowded classrooms

• Learning gaps from the COVID-19 years

Minister Gwarube acknowledged these realities, noting that the system is becoming more inclusive, but that deeper reform is still needed from early schooling all the way to Grade 12.

What Happens Now?

For the Class of 2025, the journey is just beginning.

Results became available from 13 January 2026 via:

• Schools

• The Department of Basic Education website

• SMS and online services

Those who passed can now proceed to:

• University registration

• TVET colleges

• Skills and training programmes

Learners who didn’t achieve the results they hoped for still have options:

• Supplementary exams

• Adult matric

• TVET colleges and skills programmes

Matric is not the end of the road — it is one of many doors.

A Historic Moment

The 88% pass rate is more than just a number. It reflects a generation that faced power cuts, COVID-19 disruptions, and economic hardship — yet still delivered the strongest matric performance in South Africa’s history.

To the Class of 2025: you didn’t just pass — you made history.
Now it’s time to take what you’ve earned and build the future.