Matric supplementary exams given the boot
Mid-year exam will give pupils more time to prepare
Supra has brought suffering for the workers, he has messed up...
The Department of Basic Education has taken a decision to scrap supplementary exams and replace it with a new system, which they say will save the department money and give candidates more time to prepare for the exams.
As from next year , matriculants who have failed or want to improve their results will no longer write supplementary exams. Instead, a second national exam will be introduced.
In the past, matrics were normally given until the end of January, a few weeks after getting their results, to apply for supplementary exams that were normally written between February and March.
The new system will see the exams being written between May and June.
Department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said this was a national decision and was supported by education stakeholders, saying it created access for more people to complete their matric. He said the decision was taken for many reasons, with the high cost of supplementary exams being the key factor.
According to Mhlanga, half of the people who qualified to write supplementary exams did not register, and of those who did, more than half never showed up to do so.
Mhlanga said the department has to provide sufficient invigilators, tables and chairs as well as the writing material, which was a huge waste of millions every year when the candidates did not show up.
“This has resulted in losses of millions of rands to the department over the years. Extra costs incurred include having question papers and answer sheets prepared, venue hire, and hiring invigilators and markers.
“Regardless of whether people arrive, markers are paid according to the amount of registrations,” he said.
Mhlanga said there was also a high failure rate, possibly because there was not enough time to prepare.
“Matric final exams are written between October and November. They rest in December. In January they register for supplementary exams early in the year, so there’s no time to properly prepare. Having the exams mid-year will allow that.”
Mhlanga said the second matric exam was unlike the supplementary exams, which only allowed matrics to rewrite two or less subjects the candidate sat for in the previous end-of-year examination.
“You will be able to apply to write whatever subject you have failed but also, if you want to improve your marks, you can redo the exam of your choice,” said Mhlanga.