The Western Cape Education Department hopes to retain a matric pass rate of above 80% .

Results for the National Senior Certificate examinations are scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

More than 53,000 full-time students sat for last year’s final exams in the province.

Next week marks the end of the 12-year school career for many matrics who’ll be receiving their exam results.

The class of 2019 have had to deal with load shedding, gang violence and multiple community protests disrupting their schooling.

Despite worsening socio-economic issues, higher retention rates and more, Provincial Education MEC Debbie Schafer said she’s hopeful for a pass rate of more than 80%.

“I am hoping to maintain above 80% pass rate. I think that is the most realistic that I can be. I do know, however, that a lot of hard work has gone into helping our matrics by many role players and I sincerely hope that their work yields fruit.”

The previous year’s matric class scored an 81.5% pass rate – a drop from 2017’s 84.4%.

Last year, over 53,000 full-time students and more than 9,000 part-time pupils were registered for the NSC exams in the province.