The Class of 2022 took centre stage as Basic Education Minister, Mrs Angie Motshekga and Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule, joined the nation in praising our Top Achievers of the Class of 2022. As a build up to the official announcement of the 2022 NSC results, the DBE and MTN co-hosted a Ministerial Breakfast to acknowledge the excellent performance of these learners. The Breakfast took place at the MTN Innovation Centre in Randburg, in 19 January 2023. Despite all challenges endured by this Class of 2022, the intervention support provided by the DBE and partners, has led to the sustainability of the schooling system, which has been on an upward trajectory since 2009.

In her address, Deputy Minister Mhaule confirmed that the national intervention support provided to provinces made it possible for the sector to improve its performance. She also noted the commitment demonstrated by parents, school communities and SMTs in providing support to the 2022 Class. Deputy Minister Mhaule further applauded MTN for showing keen interest towards improving learning outcomes through the implementation of its newly launched online school platform, targeting learners in rural areas. The online school initiative is an alternative way to digitise a high volume of textbooks. “We salute the Top Achievers of the Class of 2022 for making us proud.  We are gathered here today to celebrate your excellent performance; you are indeed the true ambassadors of the Basic Education Sector in South Africa,” remarked the Deputy Minister.

Addressing the top achievers at the breakfast, Minister Motshekga reminded the audience that South Africa's education system has been benchmarked internationally: “As a teacher and Minister, I have been in the sector from Bantu Education to Outcomes-Based Education (OBE), and to Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS). We acknowledge and salute our learners for putting in the hours and avoiding the well-beaten path to failure by being slack. We thank the teachers for recognising the spark of greatness in these learners. Success beckons success, so, go forth and conquer”!

The Class of 2022 has proved those who have little faith in public schooling wrong with many learners from rural areas also being counted amongst Top Achievers. Minister Motshekga indicated that the sector will continue to provide more resources to public schools to deal with learning deficits across all nine provinces. “For reasons best known to our critics, the public schooling that serves over 12 million learners, is often derided and treated as the Cinderella of education. Yet, year after year, we prove our mettle and produce learners who fill all available first-year vacancies at universities, universities of technologies and public colleges, and excel. Today, I am proud to say that our top matric learners are the absolute embodiment of true ambassadors of public schooling, a meritorious position earned, not hereditary. For us to gush over the top learners and go to town exalting their exploits is not an act of vanity, but of affirmation that this public schooling isn’t broken but a system on the rise,” concluded Minister Motshekga.