Durban - With just three days to go before the matric exams, the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department has all systems in place to conduct a successful session.
"We have left no stone unturned and taken all the necessary steps and processes to ensure that the exams are held with no glitches.
"I want to assure everyone in KwaZulu-Natal that we have the systems, personnel and determination for a successful session of the matric exams," said MEC for Education Senzo Mchunu on Thursday.
He said the department had established a Security Advisory Directorate to put in place an elaborate security plan to secure the entire examination process.
Mr Mchunu said the department would monitor the examinations to ensure that learners in the province write credible examinations.
The department pointed out that this monitoring would be a threefold activity. First they will be monitoring the printing process by management of the Chief Directorate and they will then monitor the delivery of question papers by examination administration and assessment staff.
The third process will involve the monitoring of the conduct of the examination by district, provincial and national departments. Monitoring activities will focus on nodal points, collection and submission points and mainly examination centres.
Mchunu said the invigilators had been trained with the main focus on quality invigilation and prevention of irregularities, adding that chief invigilators will brief invigilators before the exams start.
Each district, he said, has a monitoring plan and all staff members have signed a confidentiality clause relating to all classified examination related information.
"The provincial examination staff members who have close relatives writing the examination will not monitor in schools where their relatives write. They have been excused from participating in critical processes such as printing, proof reading and packing of question papers," said Mchunu.
In KwaZulu-Natal there are 140 089 full-time candidates and 12 400 part-time candidates who registered for the National Senior Certificate examination.
More than half a million registered candidates across South Africa will sit for the finals which kick off on 26 October and end on 4 December 2009.
