2019 exams on track

WARNING: COUNCIL SAYS STEPS HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO STOP CHEATING

Countrywide shortage of markers for Afrikaans examination papers.

The council for quality assurance in general and further education and training, Umalusi, has approved administrators of the 2019 national senior certificate (NSC) final examinations.

The council said it has conducted a thorough readiness assessment and strengthened security throughout exam centres, including providing training and security clearance to all the staff involved in the examination processes.

Umalusi chief executive officer Dr Mafu Rakometsi said the education assessment council has beefed up security and would not tolerate any form of cheating.

“We have identified areas which are likely to compromise the examinations. We would like to warn teachers and pupils to refrain from any form of cheating and copying,” Rakometsi said.

He said copying and group cheating often happened at school level and they had trained chief invigilators and independent invigilators to place in highrisk areas that have experienced cheating in previous years.

One of the highlighted challenges that need urgent attention include the shortage of markers for the Afrikaans examination papers.

The council offers the examination papers in both English and Afrikaans and a limited number of markers are available for the Afrikaans version.

Ramoketsi said the audit conducted by Umalusi officials had highlighted with great concern evidence of a shortage of markers in Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape.

He also gave Umalusi’s position regarding the proposed Grade 9 general education certificate (GEC) and referred to it as a transitional qualification, not an exit qualification.

“One of the advantages of the GEC is that it could provide valuable national data to gauge the performance of our education system. However, Umalusi will firstly evaluate the GEC qualification and then issue a formal statement,” said Rakometsi.

With a decrease of 40 000 candidates, a total of 751 668 candidates will sit for the final NSC exam from October 23 to November 28. –

We would like to warn teachers and pupils to refrain from any form of cheating and copying.

Dr Mafu Rakometsi Umalusi CEO

Picture: Nigel Sibanda GOOD TO GO. Umalusi chief executive officer Dr Mafu Rakometsi, left, and senior manager Mary-Louise Madalane at a media briefing in Johannesburg yesterday.