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The ANC Youth League in the Eastern Cape says the 0.5% increase in the provincial pass rate, is a milestone to be noted and appreciated.
It says it is well aware of the results of some examination centres that have been withheld due to allegations of group copying or facilitated answers to questions by certain officials, and appreciates the investigation that is being conducted by Umalusi.
The Youth League says it remains concerned that the province is at the tail end in performance compared to other provinces.
It says the province needs to invest in teacher education and development.
Meanwhile the Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape also congratulated the more than 43 000 successful matriculants out of a total of nearly 67 000 who sat for the National Senior Certificate examination in the province.
DA-MPL, Edward van Vuuren says the province's overall pass mark of 65.4%, which is an improvement on the previous year, is encouraging but not enough to be seen as an achievement.
He says the Eastern Cape is still under performing with five of its 23 districts, namely Mount Frere, Fort Beaufort, Butterworth, Dutuywa and Queenstown obtaining a pass rate of 50 to 59%.
Professor Sylvan Blignaut from the Education Faculty at NMMU says a lot of instructional time was lost in Port Elizabeth classrooms last year because of teacher shortages while the new CAPS curriculum was also clearly a challenge to the class of 2014
