Bay matric exams going well at half-way mark
WITH matric exams entering their third week, the department of education said yesterday it was satisfied with the progress, with an outbreak of diarrhoea in King William’s Town last month the only hitch so far.
Now at the halfway mark, pupils and teachers in the Bay said they were confident they would do the province proud this year.
With more than 10 papers done and dusted since exams began on October 26 and a little over 10 more papers to go, pupils also admitted to being slightly nervous.
Education spokesman Mali Mtima said provincially the exams had been going well, with Nelson Mandela Bay’s progress going even better.
“The only problem we have had so far is pupils who were forced to leave the exam room because of diarrhoea after a case of food poisoning,” he said.
“We have not registered any cheaters thus far; there haven’t been any life-changing incidents. We are very happy that the exams are progressing very smoothly.”
Exams were disrupted for several hours at Masibonisane High School near King William’s Town last month after 80 pupils took ill less than 48 hours after receiving treatment for suspected food poisoning at Grey Hospital.
The children took ill after consuming contaminated milk provided as part of the school nutrition programme.
Walmer High School pupil Asive Mbandi, 19, of Lorraine, said she had found both accounting papers to be the most challenging of the six exams she had written so far.
“Exams for me have been going well and I am feeling confident even though the accounting paper was not easy,” she said.
A Walmer High School teacher, who asked not be named, expressed concern at small mistakes she had picked up in some papers.
“There was a silly mistake in the physical science second paper where an ester [organic compound] was incorrectly drawn and had five bonds instead of four.
“A learner who knows his or her stuff would’ve picked it up, others might lose one mark,” she said.
The exams continue until November 28.