Stage set for matric exams
34 days left before pupils start writing
Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have large numbers of enrolments for this year’s National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.
Gauteng has 112 164 candidates and KwaZulu-Natal leads with 169 023 candidates. Limpopo has 110 639 and the Eastern Cape registered 92 755 candidates. But overall there has been a drop in fulltime enrolment from 2016.
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga said her department was ready for exams, 34 days before the class of 2017 sits for their first paper.
“The department has been working tirelessly to ensure the examinations are up to standard and that this year there are no irregularities,” said Motshekga.
“Registration of NSC exams centres and candidates have been completed and final verification of data is currently under way.
“Question papers have been set and externally moderated. There are 636 814 registered full-time candidates and 161 475 part-time candidates.
“The number is 37 000 less than 2016 in terms of full-time enrolment.”
She said 212 storage points have been audited to ensure compliance with security standards to stop leakage of question papers.
There was also a secondchance programme for pupils who would write their matric for the second time.
The programme was designed to give former pupils who have not been able to meet the requirements of the NSC the opportunity to get their matric or improve their original results.
“Matric certificate is an extremely valuable document, as it gives people the opportunity to further their studies.”
Motshekga also raised concern about the situation in Vuwani. “The shutdown is still in place and schools are still closed. What concerns us the most is that the disruptions have affected pupils, especially those in Grade 12 as they could not finish writing their preliminary exams.
“There are 29 000 pupils, including 1 600 matriculants, whose future is in jeopardy. We have presented a catch-up plan to the parliamentary portfolio committee, which we hope to implement,” added the minister.