Pretoria - The Department of Basic Education says it is ready to administer both the Annual National Assessment and the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate examinations for 2015.
According to the department, the National Senior Certificate Examinations will start on 26 October 2015 with the last exam on 27 November 2015.
The department today briefed the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on the state of readiness for both ANA and NSC.
The department’s Director-General Mathanzima Mweli told Members of Parliament that the department had done a lot to improve its examinations and assessment systems.
“Invigilators who supervise the writing of exams are currently being trained across all Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) and the department has conducted standardised training of all officials responsible for training of invigilators,” Mweli said.
A National Procedure Manual on Invigilation has been developed to inculcate a sense of commitment to complying with the examination code of conduct, he said, adding that all learners will sign a pledge at a Pledge Signing Ceremony.
Mweli told Parliament that the department will monitor the writing of the examinations with the assistance of PEDs and Umalusi. The department has appointed 181 independent monitors who will be deployed to the districts.
Exam question papers
According to the department, all 258 question papers for November 2015 and March 2016 examinations have been set and moderated by the department and approved by Umalusi.
Pre-writing of selected subjects (Accounting, Physical Sciences, Mathematical Literacy and Agricultural Sciences) and fairness reviews have been conducted on selected question papers.
Also, the approved question papers have been edited, quality assured and handed over to PEDs based on their printing plans, adaptation of the question papers for the visually impaired, partially sighted and hearing impaired candidates is complete and brailing of the adapted papers for the visually impaired is in progress.
“For security reasons, question papers will be made available to PEDs only a week before printing commencement. Printing commenced on 24 August 2015 in three PEDs.
“Question papers will be distributed to each examination centre on the morning of the examination in every province except in the Northern Cape where question papers will be stored at schools that are far from districts and in the Western Cape where schools will receive exam papers in consignments using preprogramed locking devices,” Mweli said.
Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Western Cape opted to print their tests using their existing facilities.
All five provinces are finalising printing and will commence with the distribution of tests towards the end of August 2015 for tests to be in or closest to schools by 11 September 2015.
Tests for Free State, Gauteng, North West and Limpopo are being printed. Printing and distribution to Nodal Points must be completed by 4 September 2015. – SAnews.gov.za
