WENDY MOTHATA
THE Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says her department is confident in its readiness to conduct the National Senior Certificate (NSC) final examinations, which will officially start on Monday.
Motshekga was addressing a media briefing in Pretoria on Sunday.
She says that it has been a challenging year for the matric class of 2022, notwithstanding COVID19-pandemic and the intermittent power cuts by Eskom.
“DBE can confidently say that it is fully prepared to administer the November 2022 examinations based on the principles of fairness, reliability, validity and integrity,” said Motshekga.
“This year was challenging at first we saw the return to normalcy following two tumultuous years in which we battled COVID-19. For the first time since 2020, our learners went back to school without having to wear masks or observe social distancing.”
The minister said last year the department prepared for a return to full-time daily time-tabling as part of the recovery plan put in place to mitigate the impact of COVID on the schooling system.
She said learners and educators had to re-adjust from the COVID-19 environment of wearing masks to a normal way after two years of the pandemic.
A total of 753 964 full-time and 167 915 part-time students will sit for the final examinations.
The minister said that the DBE has stepped up its security across all points in the question paper chain, based on a continuous review of all examination processes.
“In addition, all learners sitting for the NSC examinations and their parents have signed ‘Commitment Agreement’ to maintain honesty and not to participate in irregularities during the writing of examination. The Commitment Agreement binds the learners and parents to follow the rules relating to the examination,” she said.
In line with this agreement, learners and parents are obliged to make any irregularity related information immediately available to the school principal or the DBE hotline.
“They are also expected to surrender cell phones and any other related device if there is an allegation of involvement in an act of dishonesty. Learners are briefed on all the rules and regulations pertaining to the examinations and on the consequences, should they be implicated in irregularities.”
The minister said it continues to liaise with Eskom, the security cluster, PEDs and other relevant stakeholders to manage the risks posed by load-shedding and other security related matters.
She said that the National Policy on the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy states that barring a learner from school on the grounds of pregnancy is discriminatory.
“In terms of the Policy, schools are required to take all necessary steps to reasonably accommodate the learner to facilitate her continuing education.”
A learner who is pregnant shall be allowed to sit for national examinations if her health condition permits, said Motshekga.
“The school principal and staff in collaboration with parents/guardians shall take all reasonable steps to accommodate the learner’s learning, health and maternal needs during the examination period. This policy came into effect as from January 2022 and we expect all our school communities to comply with and implement it accordingly.”
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