Pretoria - The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has welcomed the 2012 matric results, and has extended its congratulations to the learners, teachers and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) for achieving a national matric pass rate of 73.9% -- an improvement of 3.7 % from 70.2% in 2011.
"A hearty congratulations to the 2012 Matric Class. A world full of great opportunities awaits you.
"This year-on-year improvement demonstrates a gradual commitment by the youth to improve their lives, to become active citizens and to contribute to the socio-economic growth of the country.
"Let us therefore do everything in our power to help them achieve their greatest potential. Of equal importance are the on-going efforts by the DBE to improve the quality of education, which is evidently bearing fruits," said NYDA CEO Steven Ngubeni.
Ngubeni said it was only through collective efforts by learners, teachers, parents, civil society bodies and teacher unions that the country would continue to improve learner performance throughout the schooling system.
He said in light of the vast numbers of learners who will want to further their studies, more resources were needed to help further capacitate institutions like Further Education and Training (FET) colleges.
"... FETs ... must become serious alternatives for further education, and we must help to encourage young people to enrol in these institutions ... All of this is necessary if we are to build a technical skills base among young people, preparing them for the labour market, while alleviating the pressure on universities and universities of technology," said Ngubeni.
The NYDA also called on matrics who were unsuccessful not to despair, as there were other options they could explore.
The NYDA will in due course communicate the details of a variety of programmes it will undertake aimed at assisting young people with career guidance information, bursaries as well as matric re-write, including its annual Start Here campaign and Matric Second Chance programme aimed at giving unsuccessful matrics a second chance.
Further details on these programmes will be published on the NYDA website www.nyda.gov.za and other media. - SAnews.gov.za
