Pretoria - Despite the recent public sector strike, the Gauteng Education Department said their preliminary matric exams were a success.
Most schools had completed examinations. There were only four in the province that still had to write two papers on Monday, MEC Barbara Creecy said on Thursday.
"The preliminary examinations in Gauteng were an overwhelming success. Your support and selfless dedication has made it possible for the 2010 matric class to write prelim examinations over the last two weeks," said the MEC.
Creecy thanked educators, parents, school governing bodies, civil society organisations, communities and the public for supporting the learners.
However, the exams were not without disturbances. There were minor disruptions in five of the province's 15 schooling districts during the exams, said Creecy.
Some learners, who disrupted exams, said they were not ready to write exams after their schooling interrupted by the public servants' strike.
Prelim examinations are important to prepare learners for the final examinations. They also form part of the 25 percent School Based Assessment (SBA) mark - with the preliminary examination contributing up to seven percent of the total SBA mark.
The final matric examinations will start in less than a month and Creecy said her department will go all out to ensure that learners are ready.
She said they have organised 93 camps for grade 12 learners starting from Monday 27 September 2010 until 18 October 2010.
"These classes will focus on curriculum completion, revision and exam preparation techniques," she said, calling on learners, parents, educators, communities and all education stakeholders to unite around a common objective of saving matrics.
Matrics were encouraged to use study guides available from various newspapers and on www.thutong.doe.gov.za.
