Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has wished the Class of 2015 the best of luck and assured them that they have the department’s full support as the 2015 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations kicked off on Monday.
“No matter your current circumstances, maintain a positive attitude towards your exams, believe you can achieve, for with a determined heart and mind, greatness is yours to grasp,” he said.
He was briefing media at Bracken High School in Alberton on the province’s state of readiness to administer the 2015 matric final examinations which officially began today.
Matrics sat for the Computer Applications Technology Practical exam on Monday and will conclude with Music on 27 November 2015.
The number of Gauteng learners registered to sit for the next week has increase by more than 6000 this year, to 150 678.
The Gauteng Department of Education has registered the highest number of 112 050 full time and 38 628 part-time candidates.
“It is an increase of 6972 compared to the 2014 enrolment of 143706, registered for the NSC. A total of 9800 candidates have been progressed to Grade 12 this year,” said MEC Lesufi.
A total of 954 centres have been registered to administer the examinations in the province, and of these centres, at least 640 are public schools, 238 independent, 61 adult education and training and 13 repeat centres and two correctional services centres.
MEC Lesufi said the department has done everything possible to ensure that learners in the province are given the best possible chance to do well in their exams.
“As a province, we have very high expectations for every learner to succeed and to maintain our status as the top performing province in the country,” said MEC Lesufi.
As part of the department’s strategy to ensure the preparedness of learners, focus has been placed on the Secondary Schools Improvement Programme (SSIP). The programme has provided opportunities for intensified study and drill sessions aimed at increased content coverage as well as intensified exam practice.
“The NSC examinations will be effectively managed by the districts and capably monitored by the Provincial Monitoring Team (PMT),” he said.
The department has appointed and trained chief invigilators for all 954 schools to administer the exams and it is working in collaboration with law enforcement agencies to ensure all precautions are taken to strengthen security during the examination period.
“The South African Police Services (SAPS) and Metro Police have committed to assist with the security of exam materials in their jurisdictions. The exam war room has been established to efficiently and effectively deal with any potential risks to the examinations,” said the MEC.
High security measures, which include installing security cameras and strong rooms to store question papers have been implemented in all storage areas.
An audit of the laboratories for schools offering Computer Application Technology and Information Technology has been completed.
“Contingency plans in place to curb the challenges of power failure during the writing of CAT and IT, include arrangements that were made with the local municipalities to ensure that load shedding does not affect the conduct of the examinations; Teachers’ and Education Centres are on standby in case of power outages; all centres were encouraged to provide back up plans in a form of uninterrupted power supply; and municipalities must ensure that all components, namely health and security components are on alert mode,” said MEC Lesufi.
Marking, release date
He said centralised marking will take place as from 29 November to 14 December 2015 at ten marking venues.
An additional marking session will be introduced from 17 to 25 November as there are significant shortages of markers in English Home Language, English First Additional Language, Afrikaans FAL Language, Afrikaans Home Language, Religion Studies and History.
“The selection of markers for the 2015 NSC examinations commenced on 17 August and concluded on 4 September 2015, while the training of chief markers and internal moderators will take place on 17 and 24 October 2015,” he said.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will release the results on 5 January 2016. –SAnews.gov.za
