It’s all systems go for this year’s matric exams, says Motshekga

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Friday said it was all systems go for this year’s National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, scheduled to officially start from 27 October.

Addressing the media in Pretoria, Motshekga said her department was ready to run credible matric exams for the class of 2021, unlike last year when reports of exam paper leaks emerged.

The minister said over 700,000 full-time grade 12 pupils were set to write this year’s NSC exams across the country. Of the 735,670 full-time candidates expected to write the exams, 128,451 part-time candidates would write their exams too.

Visit The Citizen’s matric portal to view your results and see who South Africa’s top performers are.

Motshekga said like the class of 2020, matric pupils this year had to navigate a “complex and hazardous terrain” to arrive at this final point of their school career due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is the grade 11s of 2020 that couldn’t complete the curriculum, they only came back to school after July. And this year they had to spend almost every possible day and hour to be taught,” she said.

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To assist pupils prepare for the exams and cope with the pressures brought on by the pandemic, Motshekga said her department was had the Woza Matrics Campaign that offers tuition support to grade 12 pupils in ten different subjects.

She urged all matric pupils to take advantage of the programme through its learning and teaching support material, including zero-rated platforms on the Department of Basic Education’s website.

“It’s a free-to-air television initiative because of Covid-19 disruptions… it seeks to benefit our learners to catch up on curriculum learning, grade 11, and matric revision as well as helping them with exam preparations.

“It is implemented as a growing national network of remote and digital learning platforms where we collaborate with the media, professionals, non-governmental organisations and all other people who really are wishing to assist us,” she said.

Exam paper leaks

Motshekga said her department does not want a repeat of last year’s exam paper leaks after the Mathematics Paper 2 and Physical Sciences Paper 2 were leaked to pupils hours before they were to be written.

She said it was in the interest of the country for the exam to remain credible.

“We appeal to communities, parents and learners to enable us to run a credible exam.

“It’s in the interest of the country and in the interest of everybody so that we don’t go back to the very embarrassing situation we found ourselves in 2020,” the minister said.

Motshekga wished the class of 2021 all the best in their exams and appealed to parents and communities to support them by giving them the space and time to focus on their studies.

The NSC exams will conclude on 7 December.

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