WATCH | Province names 2019's top matrics

“You do not need to be clever to achieve anything, you just need to be willing to work hard.” These were the words of King Edward High School pupil Aleta Sibi after she was announced as the overall best performing candidate in the Eastern Cape for the 2019 matric exams.

Sibi achieved seven distinctions in English, Afrikaans, Maths, Life Orientation, Accounting, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences

The 18-year-old was met with loud applause and standing ovation as she walked up to accept her award. She told DispatchLIVE that she would be studying medicine at the University of Cape Town.

“I did not expect to be number one in the Eastern Cape but I've always set high goals for myself. Matric was a challenging year because we had a lot of exams but in the end through hard work and self belief we made it. I am really proud of our results.”

Sibi said that during the exams she had set herself a strict study regiment, which included waking up at 2am each morning to study.

The top three pupils in the province, including 35 provincial top achievers were honoured by provincial premier Oscar Mabuyane and education MEC Fundile at the East London ICC on Wednesday evening.

Selborne College pupil Gareth Griffiths was placed second, while Nyanga High School pupil Lomso Dumezweni was ranked third in the province.

The Eastern Cape class of 2019 recorded the country's biggest improvement in matric results with a 76.5 % pass rate, the highest since the advent of democracy. The matrics registered an increase of 5.9 percentage points from the 70.5 % achieved in 2018. Bachelor passes, which pave the way for entry to university, grew by eight percentage points to 34 % from 26 % in 2018.