Lerato Mbhiza
Umalusi, the council that sets and monitors standards for general and further education in South Africa has given the clear for the more than 920 000 learners to write their Matric Exams this year.
The class of 2023 will begin writing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams on Monday, 30 October and in a briefing last week Umalusi said the candidates would write at almost 6 340 public schools and more than 550 private centres.
Umalusi CEO Dr MS Rakometsi said measures have been put in place to mitigate the impact of load shedding during the exams and said Umalusi was satisfied with arrangements the Department of Basic Education had made to procure generators and engage with Eskom.
While the quality assurer was satisfied with the state of readiness, however, Rakometsi said he was concerned that exams could be negatively affected by various factors, including load shedding, cheating and community protests.
On load shedding, he said Umalusi had advised all assessment bodies to make alternative arrangements for the supply of power during the writing of exams.
“Umalusi would like to issue a stern warning to all learners and teachers to refrain from all forms of cheating, including group copying, where teachers are sometimes implicated.
“At the same time, Umalusi discourages communities from using the national exams as leverage for their protest actions,” he said.
Rakometsi also raised concerns about unaccredited institutions and the selling of fake certificates.
“Umalusi is satisfied with the work done to curb unaccredited institutions from registering candidates for the national exams.
“The meeting that Umalusi convened on 18 August 2023 with the senior officials from the national and provincial education departments, the Independent Examinations Board and the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute agreed on measures to be taken to prevent the operation of illegal independent schools and ensure that examinations are only administered at independent schools accredited by Umalusi.”
Umalusi also urged parents to ensure that centres where candidates are registered to write their matric exams are accredited while warning against schools and colleges that had scammed unsuspecting candidates into registering with them when they were not accredited to carry out the exams.
“Umalusi and senior officials from different stakeholders agreed to prevent the operation of illegal schools and ensure that the schools are registered with the body as exam centres,” Ramoketsi said.
INSIDE EDUCATION
