Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has praised the Grade 12 students, who benefit from Social Development services and have successfully completed the 2023 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams.
Of the 897 775 Grade 12 learners who wrote their NSC, 543 786 full-time learners were social grant beneficiaries, with 62 out of 110 social grant beneficiaries amongst the top performing learners in different categories, as awarded by the Department of Basic Education (DBE).
According to the department, social grant beneficiaries formed the largest number of learners who wrote their 2023 National Senior Certificate and 441 871 learners passed the NSC examinations which is an overall pass rate of 82.9%.
About 202 156 received a Bachelor’s pass, which gains them access to institutions of higher learning, with 160 326 distinctions.
The Minister said that the child support grant formed the biggest grant type received by these learners, with the majority of them from KwaZulu-Natal, the second-best performing province after Free State.
The South African Constitution, through the Child Justice Act, also obligates the state to provide care and support services to children in conflict with the law, including educational opportunities.
According to the data from the Departments of Basic Education and Social Development, 1 630 children in conflict with the law registered for the 2023 NSC.
“Providing educational opportunities for children in conflict with the law is a key element of rehabilitating and re-integrating them back into society. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the CRC), which South Africa ratified in 1995, recognises the importance of education for children in conflict with the law,” Zulu said.
The Minister detailed that the Social Development sector has been integrating the social protection administrative data system to ensure better coordination of services and tracking of health and educational outcomes for beneficiaries of various government services aimed at tackling child and adult poverty.
She asserted that the linking and sharing of administrative data systems within the social cluster departments – Social Development, SASSA, Department of Basic Education, and NSFAS – ensure information is shared on the academic performance of social grant beneficiaries.
“One such success story of the benefits of linking and sharing of data systems was the agreement between Social Development and NSFAS on the exemption of social grants beneficiaries from the means test, a decision that has significantly bridged the higher education gap as it opened the doors of learning for many, regardless of their socioeconomic background,” the Minister said.
Zulu emphasised that education has the power to break the cycle of poverty and transform lives. By accessing education opportunities at institutions of higher learning, she said, many social grants beneficiaries have succeeded in creating a better future for themselves and their families, thus breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and inequality.
“The benefits of social grants extend beyond individual beneficiaries to broader society. Our government’s pro-poor policies such as our social assistance programme, no-fee schools, school nutrition, school uniforms, free health care including sanitary dignity packs have made significant impact over the past 30 years in reducing poverty by bridging the education gap for learners from impoverished backgrounds. We will continue to build on the success of these impactful interventions that have lifted many of our people out of poverty,” Zulu said.
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