The 2025 National Senior Certificate examination results will be announced on 12 January 2026.
With the 2025 matric exams under way, the matter of publishing learners’ results in the media in January is being examined before the courts.
It’s still unclear if the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results will be publicised on various media platforms, as judgement in the matter has been reserved.
Over a course of two days – 27 and 28 October – the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria deliberated the matter between the Information Regulator (InfoReg) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE), regarding the publication of the matric results by the DBE.
This marked a return before the courts by the InfoReg and DBE, after the former’s urgent application was dismissed in early January.
The regulator, at the time, said its urgent application was intended to force the DBE to comply with the enforcement notice it issued last November. This followed findings that the manner in which the DBE published the 2023 matric results was inconsistent with the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 (POPIA).
The matter was placed on the regular court roll after the court’s finding that there was no urgency to the regulator’s application.
In a statement, the regulator says the court appearance served as an opportunity to question the lawfulness of the DBE’s manner of publishing the matric results.
Information Regulator chairperson advocate Pansy Tlakula comments: “We first approached the court in January 2025 to assert our enforcement powers and force the DBE to bring their manner of publication of the matric results into compliance with POPIA.
“It’s been a long nine-month wait, but we are glad that these matters are now being aired out in open court. Up until now, no court has rightfully examined whether the publication of matric results is consistent with the principles of protection of personal information as given effect to through POPIA. This question must be cleared up so that the rights of all learners are protected, and the public is empowered to understand the lawful conditions for the process of personal information.”
For years, South African learners and parents grew accustomed to seeing the names of the matriculants that passed the NSC exams published in the media, signalling an end to their 12-year school journey.
Since SA’s data privacy law POPIA came into effect, it has shone a light on safeguarding citizens’ personal information.
The publishing of matric learners’ details and results has become a key topic of debate, given POPIA’s existence. In January 2022, it became a contentious issue following the DBE’s decision that it would not publish the results on any media public platforms, citing compliance with the requirements of POPIA.
At the time, the department said the rule was introduced to respect the right to privacy, to protect against unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information belonging to school pupils.
However, lobby group AfriForum, Maroela Media and Anlé Spies (a 2021 matriculant) approached the Pretoria High Court about the matter, seeking that the results be published.
The court ruled the matric results should be published via various media platforms without the first names and surnames of the learners, noting only exam numbers should be publicised.
The court’s decision was based on factors such as that not everyone has access to the internet, and that some learners no longer live in the area where their high school is based and might not be able to access their results timeously.
The InfoReg is mandated to ensure organisations put in place measures to protect the data privacy of South Africans in terms of POPIA.
Under POPIA, organisations must inform the InfoReg if they expose the personal information of data subjects to unauthorised third-parties without their approval.
The Act sets down firm frameworks that companies must abide by to avoid fines, criminal persecution and potential reputation loss. Perpetrators can face fines of up to R10 million or 10 years of imprisonment, depending on the seriousness of the breach.
With POPIA in full effect, some organisations – TransUnion, Dis-Chem, Lancet Laboratories and WhatsApp – have been issued with enforcement notices for a violation of the data protection law. In June 2023, the regulator took it a step further by imposing its first historic R5 million fine on the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for breaching POPIA.
According to the InfoReg, the high court judges will take time to consider the submissions before issuing a judgement in the matter of publishing the matric class’s exam results.
The overall pass rate for the NSC exams will be announced on 12 January 2026 and those results released to learners on 13 January 2026.
