By Murray Crow, managing director at Kwikot
As South Africa reflects on the 2025 matric results, the headlines rightly focus on an improved pass rate. But beneath the celebration sits a quieter and more uncomfortable reality that rarely makes the front page.
Murray Crow, managing director at Kwikot. Supplied by Kwikot
While the 88% pass rate signals progress, nearly half a million learners who entered Grade 1 in 2014 never reached matric. For Murray Crow, managing director at Kwikot, this is not simply an education concern. It is a growing national skills crisis, with serious implications for youth employment, economic growth and the future of technical trades.
Crow challenges the notion that matric is the sole marker of success and argues for urgent investment in technical education and apprenticeship pathways. With an ageing artisan workforce and rising demand for plumbers, electricians and mechanics, he positions skills development as a critical lever for youth employment and economic inclusion.
As we reflect on International Day of Education, alongside President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent remarks on the 2025 Matric results, it is clear that South Africa has made meaningful progress. An 88% National Senior Certificate pass rate, with more than 650 000 learners achieving matric is no small achievement and reflects years of sustained effort across the education system.
However, the President also highlighted a far more sobering reality. Of the 1.2 million children who started Grade 1 in 2014, only 778 000 made it through to Grade 12 in 2025. Nearly half a million young South Africans exited the schooling system before reaching matric.
The critical question we must ask is not only where those young people are now, but whether we are creating real pathways for them to succeed.
For many learners, leaving school early is not a matter of choice. Financial pressure, household responsibilities and broader socio-economic realities often force young people to prioritise survival over formal education. But leaving school early does not mean a lack of potential, ability or ambition. Too often, our system treats matric as the only measure of success, rather than one of many possible routes to a meaningful career.
South Africa does not only face an education challenge. We face a skills challenge.
Across the country, there is a growing and urgent demand for qualified tradespeople. Large parts of the experienced workforce are approaching retirement, while too few young people are entering technical fields to replace them. At the same time, infrastructure development, industrial maintenance and economic growth all depend on skilled, hands-on expertise.
We urgently need electricians and auto-electricians, plumbers, welders, diesel mechanics, mechanical fitters and millwrights. We need boilermakers, bricklayers, carpenters and pipe fitters. These are not fallback options. They are essential professions that keep our economy functioning and our communities running.
This is why technical schools and apprenticeship programmes must be elevated, supported and properly funded. We should not be asking how to force every learner back into a traditional academic pathway, but rather how to meet young people where they are and equip them with practical skills that lead to dignity, income and purpose.
At Kwikot, we work closely with plumbers and tradespeople across South Africa. We see first-hand how skills training can transform lives, create sustainable livelihoods and strengthen local economies. Investing in technical education is not only a social imperative. It is an economic one.
To the young people who did not complete matric, your story is not finished. There are options. There are pathways. With the right support, training and belief, success is still within reach.
If South Africa is serious about closing its skills gap and building an inclusive economy, we must broaden our definition of education, value technical skills and invest in opportunities that allow every young person to contribute meaningfully to our country’s future.
