Pretoria - With only 30 days before the start of the 2011 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, the Basic Education Department says it is ready to administer credible matric finals.
An optimistic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, assured learners, parents and the broader society on Thursday that all the necessary steps had been taken to deliver successful exams.
"The department has conducted an intensive audit of the examination and assessment systems in all nine provinces and they have received additional support for professional and successful exams," Motshekga announced at a media briefing.
A total of 620 266 candidates are expected to sit for the exams; 512 029 full time and 108 237 part time candidates.
The 2011 NSC examinations will start on 24 October and end on 1 December 2011.
Marking across most provinces will start on 2 December, except for Gauteng, where the process will start on 9 November.
"Marking will take place across 123 marking centres and will involve an estimated 35 000 markers," Motshekga said.
A total of 258 question papers have been set by the department for the November 2011/ March 2012 supplementary exams; 132 of the question papers will be utilised for the November 2011 examinations.
In addition, the Independent Examination Board has set 67 question papers for all non-official languages.
"Of this number, 53 question papers have been adapted for Braille and 45 question papers have been adapted for deaf learners. Braille and papers for deaf learners will be handed to provincial departments on 7 October 2011," said the minister.
On the security of question papers, Motshekga said during the state of readiness visits, storage facilities for question papers, security of distribution points and nodal points were audited to reduce the risks and potential threat of leaked papers.
She highlighted that provinces have added various additional criteria to ensure the best markers are appointed, with a team of moderators and monitored are to be appointed by the department to quality assure processes at the marking centres.
The department will also conduct marking guidelines discussions for all subjects in Pretoria, where chief markers and internal moderators from all provinces will interrogate the guidelines.
During the marking guidelines discussions, training will be provided for uniform application of the marking guideline. - BuaNews
