Cape Town - Ahead of the start of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations today, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube assured the country the department was ready to administer examinations, and ensure that it would be done with the highest integrity, security, and efficiency standards.
The Grade 12 learners sitting for this year’s examination, entered Grade 8 at an unprecedented time in the country’s history with the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions causing a massive disruption to everyday functioning.
During a media briefing yesterday in Pretoria, Gwarube said 727 121 full-time and 155 215 part-time candidates will sit for this year’s examinations.
At private schools, some 16 400 learners will undertake the IEB exams, Gwarube said.
In the Western Cape, 75647 candidates will sit for the NSC examinations, with 64 375 full-time candidates, and 11272 part-time candidates.
“The setting, printing, and distribution of question papers have been completed, with a total of 162 quality-assured papers approved by Umalusi for this year’s NSC exams,” Gwarube said.
“Taking lessons from previous instances of editing errors, the department introduced additional quality gates for an extra layer of checks.”
📍 Media briefing: state of readiness for the NSC matric examinations.
Bottom line: we are ready to commence.
882 336 candidates will be sitting for this exams.
The class of 2024 entered grade 8, right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, this class has managed to… pic.twitter.com/ID34CK0kNj
The exams will kick off with English Paper 3 in the morning, and Afrikaans Paper 3 in the afternoon.
Exam materials will be stored under strict conditions and provincial Education Departments have been equipped with Standard Operating Procedures to ensure the safe and secure handling of question papers from printing to distribution.
Distribution trucks will be equipped with tracking systems to monitor their movements and ensure question papers reach the exam centres on time.
Gwarube said the Department of Basic Education (DBE) will monitor around 6 334 public schools and 575 independent centres where examinations will be conducted.
The department has appointed over 55000 qualified markers, across 188 marking centres across the country. The department is also collaborating with the National Joint Operations Committee (Natjocs) and the Provincial Joint Operations Committees (Provjocs) to ensure security is maintained.
Deputy director-general for curriculum, Dr Barney Mthembu, said the 2024 cohort were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, as were the previous cohorts of 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020.
DBE chief director for national assessment and public examinations, Dr Rufus Poliah, said: “In terms of numbers we are a little concerned about our technology subjects but I must say there has been a steady increase in numbers across most of our specialisations.”
Details about the matric class of 2024. #NSC2024 pic.twitter.com/EY5XkYW3cl
— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) October 20, 2024
In terms of markers, there were stringent processes in the appointments.
“In addition to the DBE doing an audit, Umalusi comes in and does its own audit as well,” Poliah said.
The outcome of the examination will be released on January 15, and results released to candidates on January 16.
Western Cape Education MEC, David Maynier, said: “The exams will be written at 474 exam centres, overseen by 1 809 invigilators who will keep an eye out for any procedural irregularities.
“Marking will take place between 2 and 12 December 2024, with 920 000 examination scripts being marked by 4 232 markers and checked by 1 046 mark-checkers.”
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za