Loadshedding and cheating remain two of the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) concerns as the Matric class of 2022 prepares to sit for the final examinations.
The Department has urged learners not to get involved in cheating. It says it will engage with the Department of energy to keep the lights on.
Just over 900 000 pupils will sit for exams this year and will start with Computer Application Technology and Information Technology on the 25th of October. The rest of the learners will start on the 31st of October with English paper.
The 2022 matric class has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, as they started dealing with its impact in Grade 10.
The Council for quality assurance Umalusi has given a green light for them to write exams. This paves the way for the class of 2022 to sit for National Senior Certificate.
40 000 sit for examination
In the Free State over 40 000 learners are registered to sit for the examination in 337 centres. The Province held this year’s Matric Prayer Service at Kholathuto secondary school in Qwa Qwa.
Some of the learners had this to say, “Our school organised extra classes and camps especially for mathematics to ensure that we pass therefore so we are ready.” …“I’m ready for the exams, electricity is not a big problem for me because my mother makes sure that I’m able to study. o have to focus more on math and physical science.”
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says her portfolio is one of the toughest to manage.
“When we write exams we really do communicate a lot with the Department of energy to say during this period if possible we could just suspend power cuts but I can’t guarantee that we will be able to fully do away with power cuts when there power cuts in the country. So we will have to navigate our way like everybody else navigates their way.”
DBE says it’s all systems go for the final matric examination.
Free State Education MEC Tate Makgoe, “We are expecting better results, I’m looking forward for mathematics results because they didn’t do well in mathematics according to our standards but this year we tried to bring them back to groove to get back to the pass rate of over 70%.”
Motshekga says the Province has led a robust system that has raised the bar in education.
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