While South Africa’s schooling system has made notable gains in stability and overall performance, a growing gender imbalance is emerging — one that is increasingly leaving the male pupils behind.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has raised concern over data showing that female learners are consistently outperforming boys, and now significantly outnumber them in matric classrooms.
Girls currently make up 56% of the matric cohort, compared to 44% boys – a gap that reflects stronger protections for the girl child. But it also highlights a troubling trend of boys dropping out of the schooling system.
Girls outperforming boys
“One of the trends we are seeing in the statistics and data is that girls are outperforming boys,” Gwarube said.
“That in itself is not an issue, except that we are seeing boys dropping out of the schooling system. Girls, on the other hand, may be excluded because of pregnancy, but they are able to come back.”
Policy reforms that removed pregnancy as a barrier to education have allowed many girls to return to school and complete their studies. Boys, however, are less likely to re-enter the system once they leave. And they are under-represented not only in matric cohorts but also in second-chance pathways.
This imbalance, the department warns, requires urgent and targeted intervention.
The story of the Class of 2025 offers important insight into where the system is losing learners. In 2014, about 1.2 million children entered Grade 1. By the time this cohort reached Grade 10 in 2023, numbers had declined by only around 4%. This points to strong retention in the early and middle years of schooling.
The real pressure point, however, comes later.
Between Grades 10 and 12, drop-out and repetition rates rise sharply. Nationally, only about 84% of learners progress from Grade 10 to Grade 11. And just 78% progress from Grade 11 to Grade 12. By 2025, the full-time Grade 12 cohort had shrunk to around 778, 000 learners.
Boys dropping out late into school years
“These figures tell us something important,” the department said. “The largest drop-out pressure is not across the whole system — it intensifies late, as learners move into Grades 11 and 12.”
Education experts caution that where lower learner retention coincides with higher performance, the pattern must be interrogated carefully. There is growing concern that some learners — disproportionately boys — may be discouraged, diverted into non-academic tracks. Or they may be pushed out of gateway subjects in an effort to boost pass rates.
“If any learner is being discouraged, diverted or left without support, then we must find it, stop it and replace it with earlier support that keeps opportunity open,” Gwarube said.
Despite these concerns, the data also points to a more stable schooling system overall. The largest share of matric candidates in 2025 were 18 years old. This is a sign of improved on-time progression.
Overall system improved
The proportion of learners unable to sit for any exam papers has dropped dramatically. It has moved from about 17% in 2017 to around 2% today. Part-time repeat candidates have also declined. And this is reflecting improved performance and fewer learners needing to rewrite matric.
“These trends matter because they point to a more stable system,” the department noted. “And stability is the platform on which quality must now rise.”
However, officials stress that system health cannot be measured by pass rates alone. The true test lies in whether learners — of all genders — are supported to stay the course from the early grades through to matric.
As girls continue to benefit from stronger protections and re-entry pathways, the challenge now is to design equally focused interventions for boys before the widening gender gap becomes a permanent feature of South Africa’s education landscape.
My son refused to go back to school after grade 11, which he barely scrapped through because he found it boring. Slept through most classes. The only class he actually seemed to do fairly well was geography because the teacher challenged him each lesson. He was diagnosed with temporal lobe disfunction around 10 years old. He attended a primary school , at which he earned
several school certificates until he switched to high school. The difference was almost like day and night.
My son refused to go back to school after grade 11, which he barely scrapped through because he found it boring. Slept through most classes. The only class he actually seemed to do fairly well was geography because the teacher challenged him each lesson. He was diagnosed with temporal lobe disfunction around 10 years old. He attended a primary school , at which he earned
several school certificates until he switched to high school. The difference was almost like day and night.