By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Basic Education Department Minister Angie Motshekga is confident this year’s matric exams will go off smoothly as matric students start sitting for their final exams on Monday.
Addressing the media on the readiness of the Nation Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, Motshekga said load shedding won’t disrupt this year’s exams and they have created a timetable that accommodates the load shedding schedule, with some exam papers being written before or after the set times.
She said when it comes to subjects like ICT which require reliable electricity, the department will “work around” the challenge:
“Even if there’s load shedding, tomorrow we are writing English so we’ll use natural light. So it’s really working around it. We can deal with English with normal light so it’s going to be written during the day…whether there’s load shedding or there’s no load shedding, we’ll continue to write.”
Motshekga also said she is confident that they have offered enough support to prepare students for matric exams.
“All learners sitting for the NSC examinations and their parents have signed a commitment agreement to maintain honesty and not to participate in irregularities during the writing of examinations. This binds the learners and parents to follow the rules relating to the examinations,” Motshekga said.
In recent weeks, the department had to deal with cases where some schools had denied pregnant pupils the right to sit for the NSC exams, she told reporters.
However, she said the national policy on the prevention and management of learner pregnancy stated that barring a pupil from school because they were pregnant was discriminatory.
“A learner who is pregnant shall be allowed to sit for national examinations if her health condition permits,” Motshekga said.
While this year’s class was the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and had continued to grapple with the worst load shedding the country has seen, the Motshekga is confident that they have done enough to support the students.