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TEACHER unions want the examination timetable for next year’s Grade 12 exams to be better drafted to “favour the pupils”.
They said they were concerned that this year’s timetable had placed difficult subjects too close together.
As the examinations draw to a close with the final English paper on Monday, the exams have been praised as being one of the best managed.
Out of 186964 pupils in KwaZulu-Natal who wrote the exams, 152 083 were full time and about 33000 were part time. Exams took place in 1753 writing centres across the province.
The results are expected to be released on January 7.
SA Democratic Teachers Union provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza said they were pleased with the organisation of the exams .
“There was a little concern on the side of the pupils. They started off with easier papers and wrote the more difficult papers later.
“The main issue was how the timetable was set up – all the difficult subjects were placed together and there was a lot of time in-between languages, which does not make sense,” she said.
Thirona Moodley, the provincial chief executive of the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa said they were pleased with how the examinations had progressed, saying the department was well prepared.
“We are concerned about the timetable and we will actually be making submissions to the national department. It is important to make the timetable work for pupils. We are not happy that the maths papers were close – one on a Friday and another on Monday.”
KwaZulu-Natal Education spokesperson, Muzi Mahlambi, said: “We must laud this year’s Grade 12 class. They have (behaved) in a good way. They did not want to taint the good results we believe they will get.”