The national pass rate for the 2014 matric exams dropped to 75.8 percent, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Monday.

The past rate in 2013 was 78.2 percent, Motshekga announced in Johannesburg, admitting her disappointment.

A total of 550,127 full-time and 138,533 part-time pupils wrote the basic education department’s examinations.

Gauteng was the top performing province, with a pass rate of 84.7 percent, down from 87 percent in 2013.

The worst performing province was the Eastern Cape, which got 65.4 percent, an improvement of 0.5 percentage points in comparison to 2013. SAPA