It is all system go for the 2024 final matric examinations. The Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) said the question papers for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams have been moderated and approved.
Umalusi said all the questions papers met the quality assurance body’s requirements.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) and Umalusi were briefing parliament on Tuesday. They were briefing the portfolio committee on basic education on the state of readiness for the final matric exams. The exams start on October 21.
Briefing to parliament attended by stakeholders
The briefing took place on September 17, and was attended by senior officials led by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube. Deputy minister Dr Regina Mhaule and the department’s director-general Hubert Mweli were also in attendance.
Leading the delegation from Umalusi was chairperson Prof Yunus Ballim and acting CEO Dr Eva Sujee. The latter serves as the executive for quality assurance. Sujee is acting, while Umalisi CEO, Dr Mafu Rakometsi, is out of the country on an official trip.
Chief director for national assessment and public examinations, Dr Rufus Poliah, confirmed the readiness. He said the 162 question papers approved by Umalusi for the October/November NSC 2024 examinations are completed. They are ready for handover to provinces for printing.
Poliah reported that 732, 448 full-time candidates are enrolled for the NSC examinations. This is 8, 400 more than in 2023.
KZN has highest number of matric candidates
“KwaZulu-Natal has the largest Grade 12 population with 172 213 candidates. Gauteng contributes the second-largest number with 136, 620,” he said.
There are 136, 195 part-time candidates registered to sit for various subjects this year. The examinations will take place in 6, 909 registered centres across the nine provinces.
The Matric Class of 2024 is a special group because they were in Grade R in 2012. This was when Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement was implemented in foundation phase.
This group of youngsters had just started high school Grade 8 in 2020 when Covid-19 hit. It disrupted their transition from primary school.
This year’s matric candidates faced numerous hurdles
“Their Grade 9 year in 2021, which is crucial for subject selection in grade 10, was also disrupted.
“They experienced social distancing, which limited groupwork between teachers and group assessment activities. Rotational attendance affected coverage of the curriculum. And it created content gaps,” said the DBE in its presentation.
The matric examinations will end on November 28. Results are due to be released by the minister on January 15, and to provinces on January 16.
