Cape Town - The Western Cape education department (WCED) is encouraging schools and communities to rally around the matric class of 2022, as the students are set to start their final exams in 40 days.
On Wednesday, the department’s head David Maynier issued a statement saying it was all systems go across the province as the schools and teachers geared up to support the matrics ahead of their final National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams.
Maynier, who took over the helm at the education department following the resignation of former MEC Debbie Schafer, said it had, in preparation, put in place various supportive measures to create an enabling environment for this year's matrics to succeed.
Among the list of initiatives, the department is set to support at least 23 000 learners at Spring Schools over the coming school holidays.
Maynier said: “Districts have been hard at work during the third term offering after-school and weekend revision classes in key subjects, providing exam support packs to candidates, holding online tutoring sessions, hosting residential camps, and motivating learners.
“Every matric candidate in the province has received a matric revision pack this term containing essential information.
“Our ePortal alone contains nearly 9 000 matric-specific support resources, including revision guides, Telematics videos, marking guides, and study tips that learners can access any time,” he added.
Maynier said the WCED had also put in place psycho-social support for matric students. Social workers had been on hand during residential camps to support learners in need and to conduct motivational sessions with matrics.
The department has reportedly also been running workshops in schools focusing on self-care, exam anxiety, study skills, motivation, time management, relaxation and stress management skills, among a host of topics.
“Lastly, once again, we approach the exam period having to contend with load shedding,” Maynier noted.
He said this was extremely disappointing and was understandably causing concern for the learners, but added that contingency measures had been put in place to ensure that every aspect of the examination process would take place without disturbances.
“However, we call on Eskom and our local government partners to assist us in making sure that load shedding will not prevent our learners from achieving their best possible results in these exams,” Maynier urged.
“We wish every one of our candidates the very best as they count down to the exams, and I want to thank our matric teachers, who are giving their all to ensure that their learners do well in these exams.”
nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za