Premier Lynne Brown
Fellow cabinet members
Superintendent-General Ron Swartz
Deputy Director-Generals
Senior officials from Western Cape Education Department
Members of the Standing Committee on Education
Representatives of Teacher Unions
Principals
Teachers representing schools receiving awards today
Matric learners who will be honoured today and your parents
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen

Today we are here to celebrate and reflect on the outcome of the first truly single examination for Grade 12 learners in the country

Premier, the Western Cape's pass rate of 78.6% is reason to celebrate. Many of our learners have performed excellently, despite higher demands of the new curriculum and higher pass requirements.

The Greek playwright Sophocles is famously quoted that success is dependent on effort. While 2008 will go down as the year in which many "firsts" were recorded in the school leaving examinations, schools and the Western Cape Education Department have prepared for the introduction of the national curriculum for Grades 10 to 12 over the past six years.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe the hard work and commitment of our education officials, principals, teachers and learners and the support of parents and the community at large, played a significant role in the pass rate.

This figure is slightly lower than the 80. 6% pass rate recorded in 2007, though I must caution against making comparisons between the examinations based on the old curriculum and the National Curriculum Statement.

Much of the content is the same as in the old curriculum although some of the content has been updated and is assessed in ways that require deeper levels of understanding and comprehension. Learners are required to pass six of their seven subjects and cannot pass on aggregate mark. All examinations are also set at one level - there is no higher grade and standard grade.

This year 43 957 candidates wrote the full exam, 2 035 more that the 41 922 full-time candidates in 2007. A total of 34 556 (33 787 in 2007) candidates passed the 2008 exams. Almost every candidate qualified for access to higher education. The new system replaces endorsement or matriculation exemption with qualification for access to bachelors' degree, diploma or certificate studies.

A total of 14 512 candidates (33%) qualified for access to studies for bachelors' degrees, compared to 10 300 (24.6%) who achieved endorsement in 2007.

A total of 12 842 candidates qualified for access to diploma studies and 7 180 for certificates.

Factors explaining the increase in numbers obtaining access to further education include better informed subject choice and application by the learners concerned.

Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy and Physical Sciences

I earlier mentioned that 2008 is the year of many firsts for education. For the first time all Grade 12 learners had to write Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy. An astounding 91, 3% of the 24 550 candidates who wrote Mathematical Literacy passed. A further 13 003 candidates passed Mathematics compared to the 3 990 candidates who passed Mathematics on the Higher Grade in 2007. Equally encouraging is the 71, 2% pass rate in Physical Sciences despite complaints about the difficulty of the question papers.

School performance

Our good schools continued to do well with 105 schools obtaining a 100% pass rate (73 last year) and 187 with a pass rate of 90% or more. It is worrying that 75 schools have a pass rate of less than 60%. The WCED will provide support to these schools via the National Strategy for Learner Attainment (NSLA) that provides holistic support to all aspects of teaching and learning, including school management and governance

Ladies and gentlemen, at the same time, we celebrate schools in poor communities that have demonstrated that they can improve results significantly by getting the basics right and by working hard.

I also want to use this opportunity to pay special tribute to Daniella de Wee, a Grade 12 learner at Hexvallei Secondary School in De Doorns who tragically drowned on Wednesday, 12 November while on her way to write the Afrikaans Home Language Paper 3.

Daniella personified determination and enthusiasm and wanted to further her studies after matric. So much so that when her application to study at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2009 was turned down, she did not give up and planned on reapplying

Sadly Daniella did not have the opportunity to finish the exam, but it is my hope that she will inspire the class of 2008 not to give up on their dreams and pursue further studies to bridge the skills gap in the country.

I would also like to thank all our officials, the examiners, markers, invigilators, teachers, principals and administrative personnel for helping to administer an examination of such magnitude. You dedication helped to minimize the disruptions caused by flooding during the writing of the exams while processing the over one million scripts is also not an easy feat.

I would like to conclude by thanking our partners like Mercer / Mustek who graciously donated five laptops for our top candidates. A further five laptops will be donated to top achievers from underprivileged communities. Every recipient will get a headstart in their chosen field using this generous donation. Partnerships like these are important to improve the quality of education in the province.

Ladies and gentlemen, in some respects, the 2008 results reflect work in progress, while showing signs of significant success, especially in Mathematics. We will build on this success in 2009.

I thank you