Pretoria – The Gauteng Department of Education says it has done everything possible to provide the best possible chance for each learner to do well in the National Senior Certificate exams.
The finals start on Wednesday with the Computer Applications Technology Practical exam, and will conclude with Design on 29 November 2016.
“We have very high expectations for each learner to succeed and reclaim our number one status as the top performing province in the country,” said the department on Tuesday.
Gauteng has registered the second highest number of candidates, after KwaZulu-Natal.
A total 112 192 full-time candidates and 41 781 part-time candidates will sit for the 2016 exams. In total, there are 153 973 Grade 12 learners.
The candidates will be writing their exams in 1 158 centres across all 15 districts in Gauteng.
“We are pleased to note that more learners will be writing maths and science with 3 0000 more offering these subjects. On the other hand there is a slight decrease in number of learners that will be writing in the commerce stream.”
Chief invigilators and invigilators for all examination centres have been appointed and trained drawn from head office, the districts and other stakeholders.
An extensive network of 1 555 monitors has been established across the province to ensure the processes relating to conduct, administration and management of the examination is fair, credible and of integrity.
In addition to the process of monitoring, daily incident reports will be submitted by districts, collated and submitted to the Department of Basic Education and Umalusi.
“The department is working in with law enforcement agencies to ensure that all measures are taken to strengthen security during the examination.
“Eighty distribution points have been identified for the collection of question papers and submission of scripts. Appointed security companies with an armed guard, will escort all exam material,” it said.
The department has placed emphasis on the Secondary Schools Improvement Programme (SSIP which has provided opportunities for intensified study and drill sessions aimed at increased content coverage as well as intensified exam practice.
SSIP, which is the major strategic intervention for progressed and high-risk learners, is ongoing every Saturday and everyday over the school holidays.
“We have established matric revision camps across the province. The matric camps will also focus on the following two goals - covering key topics that have not been sufficiently covered during the year [and] drilling learners in possible exam questions,” said the department.
The department is offering several incentives to continuously encouraged learners to aim high during the exams.
The top three achievers in each township school automatically obtain a full bursary which includes registration fees, tuition fees and prescribed books to the maximum bursary amount of R55 000 per academic year at a higher education institution.
In addition, each school that scores a 100% pass rate will automatically become a full ICT schools.
That means from Grade 8-12 the schools will be fully kitted with smart boards, learners receive tablets with educational content and educators are provided laptop computers for teaching,” said the department.
“We would like to wish all our Grade 12 and all our learners the best of luck and assure them that they have our full support. We are saying to them, when combining inspiration and hard work, the reward is always fulfilling,” said the department. – SAnews.gov.za
