Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, says it’s all system go for the Grade 12 final exams, starting on the 27th of October. This year 735 677 fulltime candidates enrolled for the matric exams, which makes it the largest cohort since the start of the National Senior Certificate.  

It’s also 128 000 candidates more than last year.  

Motshekga says despite the challenges faced by the learners last year and this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she expects better results from previous years.   

“We expect even better results from this group. Historically, we’ve done assesments and the report I got yesterday was that we even hope to do better and not because of COVID or the pressure, but I’m told it’s the quality that is coming through now in the system, that is resilient and able to take pressure.” 

Basic Education says it is making progress in eradicating pit toilets at schools.  

Motshekga says the initial report that more than 3 000 schools still depend on pit latrines, was shown to be incorrect, after a verification process. She says at some of the schools, there were toilet facilities but the water supply to the schools had been cut.  

Motshekga says the verification process now shows 2 825 schools are still using pit toilets.

“From the 2 825, 1 185 schools have already received new sanitation. We have in the system also a thousand which are at different stages of implementation. We even had a meeting this morning with the deputy minister. We’re left with less than a thousand.” 

Minister Angie Motshekga briefs media on developments in the Basic Education Sector: