Tshwane - South Africa's 2017 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations came to an end on Tuesday, without major disturbances recorded, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said.
"The 2017 NSC examinations have been free of any major incident and the department would like to thank those learners, and the commitment of teachers who worked tirelessly throughout the year to ensure that candidates were prepared and that the integrity of the NSC examinations continues to be upheld,’’ said Motshekga.
She said this year, the department placed increased emphasis on security and the protection of the integrity of the NSC examinations. This was done to mitigate the impact of anticipated risks associated with the storage and movement of examination scripts.
"The department did so by employing the 'Just in Time' printing approach which allowed for examination scripts to be printed as close as logistically possible to the writing of the examination," she said.
The task of marking millions of examination scripts has already begun in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces.
"The remaining provinces are due to commence tomorrow [Wednesday]. There are 44,911 markers and 144 marking centers across the country checking more than 10 million answer sheets," said Motshekga.
"Despite minor disruptions caused by protest marches that took place during this [examinations] period, these presented no significant threat to the administration of the 2017 NSC examinations, and the department acknowledges all candidates, teachers and invigilators who have made the process largely incident-free."
Motshekga will release the examination results on January 4, and learners will be able to receive their results at their schools or examination centres from January 5.
The definitive examinations ended on Tuesday as candidates wrote Agricultural Science and Design in the morning and afternoon sessions respectively.
A total of 802 636 candidates, 634 527 of those who are full-time learners, sat for the examinations which began on October 16.