The Department of Social Development sends good wishes to all beneficiaries of social development services, including social grants beneficiaries awaiting their National Senior Certificate (NSC) results to be announced on Monday, 13 January 2025.
The department wishes to announce it is making the Gender Based Violence Command Centre (GBVCC) available to pupils and their families who may be anxious about the outcomes of the results.
Grade 12 examinations is a key barometer to measure the country’s educational system as well as measuring the educational outcomes of poor and vulnerable learners. Out of 882 336 registered learners who wrote the NSC, 697,502 are social grant beneficiaries, representing 79% of the registered pupils. Out of this number 1068 of the learners were children who were in conflict with the law during their schooling years.
The data analysis is possible through linking various administrative data systems which is a key departmental digital transformation target.
Out of the class of 2024, 657,980 of the learners were beneficiaries of the Child Support Grant (CSG), representing 94,3% of pupils on social grants, whilst 35,200 pupils are beneficiaries of the Foster Child Grant, representing 5.5% of pupils on Social Grants.
From the data, 653,290 of the learners were still in payment when they wrote their final exams and 34,710 had been terminated due to the learners reaching their 18th birthday.
It is worth noting that only 3 092 matriculants applied for the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant of R370 when their CSG lapsed.
The Department is pleased that through its relationship with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) 272 098 social grant beneficiary learners applied for financial assistance to continue with their studies. According to the data received from NSFAS, 261 950 of these learners are provisionally accepted pending their results and acceptance in institutions of higher learning.
The Department wishes to encourage matriculants and their families to make use of the GBVCC by speaking to the available social workers for psychosocial support services.
The GBVCC is operated by professional social workers who provide trauma counselling services to clients of gender-based violence, and this service is being extended to matriculants who may be anxious about their results. The service will be available from Sunday 12 January 2025 until Saturday 18 January 2025.
Matriculants can contact the GBVCC on 0800 428 428.
