Refilwe Mochoari
Province slips to second place after eight-year reign as KZN tops 2025 matric results
After six years at the summit, the Free State has slipped from the top spot in the national matric rankings — but its historic 91% pass rate remains untouched.
The province has been overtaken this year by KwaZulu-Natal, which achieved a pass rate of 90.6%.
Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube announced the 2025 matric results on Monday evening in Johannesburg.
Despite losing the number-one position, the Free State continues to rank among the country’s most consistent and high-performing provinces in the education system.
This year, the Free State recorded a pass rate of 89.33%, followed closely by Gauteng at 89.06%. The national pass rate stands at 88%. North West achieved 88.79%, while the Northern Cape recorded 87.79%.
According to Gwarube, the class of 2025 made history, with all 75 education districts nationwide achieving pass rates above 80%.
Free State MEC for Education Mantlhake Maboya said the 91% pass rate achieved by the class of 2024 was the outcome of a targeted 90% ambition set by the province as far back as 2010. She said the department’s sustained efforts and commitment had been key to this success.
“This is the highest matric pass rate in the history of our country and should be a moment of great pride and celebration for all of us. So, 14 years down the line, we have been working very hard towards that ambitious target of 90%,” she said.
Although the province did not top the rankings this year, the department remains satisfied with the results, and Maboya congratulated KwaZulu-Natal on its achievement.
The Department of Basic Education reported that more than 900 000 matriculants wrote the 2025 examinations across over 6 000 centres, making it the largest NSC examination cohort in history.
Of the total passes, 46% qualified for bachelor’s degree studies, 28% for diploma programmes, and 13.5% for higher certificates.
The Free State will host a matric “well done” function tomorrow at the Central University of Technology, where the province’s top 100 matriculants will be honoured.
