Ministry of Justice Correctional Services Award Their Top Matric Achievers. Everyone in life deserves a second chance to turn their live around. It goes without saying that prison is the last place you can think of fetching your goals, but so many inmates are beating the odds to better themselves.
In 2021, 111 inmates from various correctional facilities were among students who sat for their Matric final examinations. 59 of those got Bachelor passes, while 29 got Diploma Passes and 11 got themselves Higher Certificate passes. The pass rate was recorded at 77%.
This year has seen so much improvement, as the inmates who sat for exams raised the bar by 10.5%. Of those inmates 77% o=are going to advance their studies at tertiary. The best performing region is KwaZulu-Natal led by Ethubeni with 20 learners and 100% pass rate for 7 consecutive years and the most distinctions. The best performing learner award went to Neo Moyo
Speaking at the inmate matriculation results. as well as award ceremony, Minister Ronald Lamola applauded the matriculants. He stated that they worked really hard despite challenges such as lockdown and load shedding.
“Our full-time school achieved 95,9% pass rate while our part-time registered a 63,3%. The final tally of results is 87,5%, an improvement from the 77% we obtained from the 2021 academic year. This is really commendable considering the pandemic and loadshedding challenges,” Minister Lamola said.
The Department of Correctional Services transfers skills to inmates through formal and vocational training to equip them for life upon their release. DCS continues to achieve great Matric results with the following pass rates recorded in the last five years, 2016 – 72.1%, 2017 – 76.7%, 2018 – 77.3%, 2019 – 82.6% and 2020 -86.3%.
