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The journey through SA schools

Each year more than 1 million new pupils start their formal schooling in grade 1. Over the next 12 years the numbers will drop off as many fail or leave school. Eventually around half of those children who started grade 1 will have reached grade 12. While the decline in numbers is mostly consistent between grades there is an exception: grade 10. Many pupils seem to reach and then remain their for a while, probably after repeating a grade or two. Many of them leave school after grade 10 so the number of students in grade 11 and 12 plummet.

In the table below you can view the number of pupils enrolled in each grade from 2007 to 2024. If you hover or click on a block you can see the progression for that cohort from the earlier grades onwards.

Hover or click on the table to see how many students progress.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Gr 1

1,172,659

1,122,114

1,105,186

1,116,899

1,177,089

1,208,973

1,222,851

1,235,901

1,244,208

1,208,992

1,186,829

1,163,477

1,150,672

1,142,573

1,118,607

1,083,190

1,043,144

1,054,790

Gr 2

1,051,255

1,031,821

1,003,071

994,410

1,003,353

1,074,788

1,116,427

1,149,894

1,164,050

1,182,132

1,141,325

1,117,527

1,124,343

1,114,489

1,109,319

1,100,624

1,058,159

1,021,861

Gr 3

1,067,684

1,017,656

1,003,394

972,668

957,209

967,373

1,025,185

1,073,447

1,106,895

1,118,913

1,124,312

1,102,908

1,095,221

1,103,834

1,098,434

1,093,526

1,096,607

1,054,041

Gr 4

1,091,594

1,050,860

1,018,450

1,002,645

974,860

966,349

964,630

1,036,378

1,088,804

1,126,126

1,130,949

1,145,084

1,153,845

1,145,307

1,127,877

1,112,643

1,106,856

1,120,115

Gr 5

1,036,163

1,043,012

1,007,928

978,983

957,203

939,025

923,562

929,735

979,360

1,025,674

1,046,370

1,060,638

1,089,050

1,091,826

1,097,094

1,087,311

1,073,750

1,072,924

Gr 6

1,002,266

1,001,852

1,011,105

978,016

946,427

935,446

909,095

804,517

800,799

947,015

978,130

1,017,602

1,038,271

1,063,717

1,073,761

1,073,524

1,066,961

1,059,616

Gr 7

896,545

964,345

969,519

980,747

941,291

912,528

902,099

875,311

884,994

899,622

924,167

960,151

1,017,848

1,040,722

1,062,877

1,072,712

1,068,907

1,067,165

Gr 8

930,522

926,603

989,609

1,001,180

1,008,110

971,509

942,345

935,624

931,766

952,628

971,367

995,994

1,057,640

1,108,205

1,096,255

1,127,946

1,158,279

1,181,804

Gr 9

958,009

902,656

925,417

1,009,327

1,049,904

1,096,113

1,073,060

1,048,823

950,512

905,066

894,113

820,836

930,960

982,574

1,038,850

1,022,822

1,044,578

1,056,333

Gr 10

1,116,765

1,076,527

1,016,360

1,039,762

1,094,189

1,103,495

1,146,285

1,139,872

1,112,604

1,104,749

1,075,925

1,033,799

1,045,424

1,104,452

1,081,618

1,148,437

1,187,468

1,242,958

Gr 11

920,716

902,752

880,515

841,815

847,738

874,331

834,611

897,342

928,983

901,097

892,784

862,009

861,035

867,783

954,069

928,050

974,717

997,126

Gr 12

626,358

595,216

599,626

579,384

534,498

551,837

597,196

571,819

687,230

704,533

661,116

643,802

640,714

628,190

750,478

775,630

740,566

740,876