<\/p>\n
Despite severe weather warnings for thunderstorms and floods in at least seven provinces, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, said the department was ready for the start of the 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Exams. <\/p>\n
On Monday, over 800,000 matric hopefuls are expected to commence their final exams for the English Paper 3 examination. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud to announce that we are ready to administer the 2024 NSC exams,\u201d Gwarube said during a press conference held Sunday.<\/p>\n
The South African Weather Services issued a Yellow level 4 warning for severe thunderstorms in parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the southern parts of Limpopo, while on Saturday similar warnings were forecast in KZN, Eastern Cape, the eastern Free State and eastern North West province.<\/p>\n
Department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga told in a writtten statement that they were part of the disaster management forum, where planning takes place for managing weather related emergencies that may occur.<\/p>\n
The ministry said it has an agreement with SANDF to deploy resources essential to protecting the examinations through the support of the sector. <\/p>\n
\u201cAuthorities are on standby to provide school learners and the department with help that may be needed should the need arise,\u201d said Mhlanga. <\/p>\n
Gwarube, who replaced Angie Motshekga as Basic Education Minister, said the NSC exams were a mammoth task for government.<\/p>\n
There will be 727,121 full-time candidates and 155,215 part-time candidates who will be sitting for this exam. That means that a total of 882, 336 candidates across South Africa will sit for the 2024 matric exams.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside of the national and local government elections, I have yet to learn of any other logistical project of this magnitude because we are rolling this out across all nine provinces in various communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In terms of private schools, 16,400 learners will be taking part in the IEB exams, the minister said.<\/p>\n
Gwarube said that these learners have faced a range of challenges throughout their academic journeys due to the impact of Covid-19 in their earliest schooling years.<\/p>\n
The class of 2024 entered Grade 8 in 2020 right at the height of the pandemic and the disruption impacted their formative years, she explained.<\/p>\n
It is because of this that government has instituted several mitigation measures to address these gaps. Government provided personalised learning interventions, additional teaching support, and social and emotional care across all provinces, Gwarube said.<\/p>\n
She added that the department also rolled out face-to-face extra tuition sessions on Saturdays, catch-up programs and extended school hours in key subjects especially for the learners who struggled to cope with the curriculum due to early disruptions.<\/p>\n
The minister said that the department has ensured that all learners with disabilities are provided with adequate \u201cspecial accommodations\u201d and this included braille papers and large print papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe South African sign language adaptations have been made to ensure that learners have all the resources and support they need to succeed,\u201d Gwarube said.<\/p>\n
On the exam papers, the minister said that the setting, printing and distribution of question papers has been completed with a total of 162 quality-assured papers approved.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking lessons from previous instances of editing errors the department has introduced additional quality gates for an extra layer of check,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of security, the department has taken extensive precautions to save the integrity of the examination process. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have completed audits of all storage facilities across the country to ensure that they meet the required standards for security and handling of examination materials,\u201d Gwarube said.<\/p>\n
She added that all exam materials are stored under strict conditions and provincial education departments have been equipped with protocols to ensure the safe and secure handling of question papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore distribution trucks will be equipped with tracking systems to monitor their movements to ensure that question papers reach exam centres on time without compromise,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
Gwarube said that to ensure the integrity of the exams, the department also deployed 70 part-time monitors to oversee high-risk examination centres to prevent irregularities such as group copying or leakage of exam papers.<\/p>\n
Once the exams are completed the department will place a huge focus on the marketing process.<\/p>\n
The minister said that managing this part of the process is critical to ensure the credibility and the fairness of the exams.<\/p>\n
Lastly, the department has appointed over 55,000 qualified markers across 188 marking centres nationwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese markers have been selected based on strict criteria to ensure that only experienced and qualified educators participate in the marketing process,\u201d Gwarube said.<\/p>\n
NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite severe weather warnings for thunderstorms and floods in at least seven provinces, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, said the department was ready for the start of the 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Exams. On Monday, over 800,000 matric hopefuls are expected to commence their final exams for the English Paper 3 examination. \u201cWe are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[13072,1708,12425,1707,610,2509,11876,11184,441],"class_list":{"0":"post-221062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-politics","7":"tag-dbe","8":"tag-exams","9":"tag-insists","10":"tag-matric","11":"tag-mzansi","12":"tag-ready","13":"tag-severe","14":"tag-warnings","15":"tag-weather"},"yoast_head":"\n