Johnathan Paoli
THE national Department of Basic Education (DBE) is expected to release the results of the 2023 final matric exams later in the month.
DBE spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, said the department will announce the exam outcomes a day before the provisional release.
“We are on schedule. The minister will announce the pass rate for the class of 2023 on 18 January,” Mhlanga said.
The DBE noted that the 2023 exam period went off with only a few glitches, including 45 pupils who were found with crib notes in Gauteng and an impostor was caught in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mhlanga said that the department is set to meet with quality assurance body Umalusi on Friday, with preliminary meetings being held on the previous two days.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has blamed a R790 million budget cut for its inability to build 21 new schools in the province.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond, said about 18,000 new learners from outside the province would need to be placed at the start of the school year.
Hammond said that the department was only able to build nine schools following the budget cuts from the national government in 2023.
“It’s nine new schools and then additional classrooms that we are placing onto existing schools and that equates to 608 additional classrooms,” Hammond said.
The department urged parents to be patient when trying to get their children placed in schools this year, as the budget cuts of June last year were heavily affecting the placement process.
Hammond said that the conditional grant for infrastructure was cut by R179 million, while a further R243 million was cut from the infrastructure budget.
INSIDE EDUCATION
