Department scraps matric supplementary exams

THE Department of Basic Education (DBE) has taken the decision to scrap matric supplementary examinations in February/March 2019. In a statement the department said this is due to the number of students who applied to re-write their exams.

“This decision was taken for a number of reasons, including that all those who qualified to write supplementary examinations did not register, and of those that do register more than half do not sit for the examinations making it a huge wasteful expenditure process. This has resulted in the loss of millions of Rands to the Department over the years. Additional costs incurred include having question papers and answer sheets printed, venue hire, and hiring of invigilators and markers,” the department said in a statement.

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Another reason is that the February/March supplementary exams also give students a short time to prepare. According to the department most learners then end up failing again.

“The supplementary examinations also yield a high failure rate and this is thought to be due to the fact that there is very little time for learners to adequately prepare between when learners get their results in January to when they are expected to write the supplementary examination,” the department added.

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However the department will offer a second opportunity to write the full National examination in May/June, saying “mid-year allows learners who did not meet the requirements of the NSC ample time to prepare for the examinations. They will also have the opportunity to choose if they want rewrite all their subjects or just those that they failed, unlike the supplementary examinations where learners could only rewrite two subjects.”

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