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Eastern Cape education MEC Mandla Makupula says the 2012 matric results were "one step backwards and two steps forward".
He says he is proud of the improved pass rate for the province, one of the worst performers in South Africa, from 58.1% in 2011 to 61.6% last year.
Makupula says the last time the province got more than 60% was in 2003, when it managed 61.1 percent.
He says there were 30 schools in the province with a 100% pass rate, while eleven schools had a pass rate of 10% or below.
Makapula says for the first time in many years, there were no schools with a zero percent pass rate.
Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande has welcomed the improved matric pass rate, saying he is particularly pleased with the maths result.
He says the increase has direct implications for enrollments in faculties where mathematics is a pre-requisite within the higher education training sector.
Nzimande says he is also pleased with the improvement in marks for Physical Science, Geography, History, and technical subjects.
He urged those who had not passed matric not to be despondent and to look at other avenues for further learning.
An estimated 180-thousand students are expected to enroll at universities, and about 100-thousand at FET colleges.
