Mbombela - Over 90 percent of schools in Mpumalanga have already received stationery, while all of them have received text books and teachers' guides for the 2011 academic year.
Most schools have also completed the registration of pupils for the new year, which starts on 12 January, said provincial education spokesperson Jasper Zwane on Monday.
"Preparations for the 2011 school year started in the last quarter of 2010, and over 90 percent of our schools have already registered and admitted pupils for the 2011 school year," said Zwane.
He said books and teachers' guides for Grades 1 to 12 had been delivered to all the schools.
"Basically, I can confirm that we are more than ready to start the 2011 school year," Zwane said.
He said the province was expecting a matric pass rate of more than 50 percent for the 2010 year, when the results are released nationally on Thursday.
"At least 55 842 fulltime candidates and 4 658 candidates in the province sat for the 2010 Grade 12 examinations which started on 25 October and we are satisfied with the manner in which the exams progressed. We expect more than 50 percent pass rate this year. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped to make sure that our exams were not overshadowed by scandals like the previous years," he said.
Mpumalanga's matric pass rate dropped to 47.9 percent in 2009, down from 51.8 percent in 2008, the worst performance by any of the country's nine provinces.
In January last year, Education Minister Angie Motshekga declared Mpumalanga's Bushbuckridge region the worst-performing region in the country concerning the 2009 exams.
According to a report released in November last year by the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, only 3 897 of Bushbuckridge's 13 806 matric pupils passed their 2009 exams. Some 92 schools achieved a pass rate of less than 30 percent.
