The 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations officially commenced on Wednesday, 27 October.
The first exam to be written was English home language (124,065 candidates), English first additional language (609,830) and English second additional language (four), the examinations will conclude on December 7.
The department said 897,786 candidates would be writing the 2021 examinations, comprising 735,677 full-time and 162,109 part-time pupils.
“The national examination system is ready to administer a credible public examination and it is geared to accommodate any change that may be warranted by the current environment,” the department of basic education (DBE) said in a recent statement.
“It should be noted that despite the abnormal context, the Class of 2021 will be subjected to the same high quality examination that previous cohorts were subjected to, and the quality assurance council, Umalusi, has confirmed that the national examination system is ready to administer the 2021 NSC examination.”
The department said it had learnt valuable lessons from the previous examinations and was therefore more confident in administering this sitting. “Candidates that demonstrate Covid-19 symptoms as well as candidates that test positive will be allowed to write their examination at special isolation venues that have been arranged. “
“To accommodate the negative effects of Covid-19, measures such as the provision of supplementary material, vacation classes, afterschool programmes, teacher content training and placement of volunteer teachers were implemented.”
“Parents are requested to be extra vigilant to ensure that learners do not resort to engaging in any activity relating to examination irregularities ,” the department said.
Matric exams start on October 27. File photo.
Image: Gallo Images/Die Burger/Jaco Marais
